To Kill A Watchmaker
by Ariana Paris
Summary: Claire goes back in time to kill Sylar just before his power manifested, but discovers that Gabriel Gray isn't yet the man she's looking for.
1. Chapter 1

_Originally published in installments on LiveJournal based on a prompt with the following requirements: Claire meets Gabriel before he becomes Sylar; he does not become Sylar in the story; they have all their abilities; Gabriel is the sweet, socially awkward, shy type; Gabriel is a virgin (or at least very inexperienced).  
_

A strong musty smell hit Claire as she stepped into the "Clock Shop," as announced by the gaudy sign affixed to a nearby fire exit. The sign, complete with bent arrow and large analogue clock outlined in neon, promised something Kitsch and just old enough to be unfashionable. But inside, Claire felt as if she had gone even further back in time, to an era when plastic had not yet been invented. The dark wooden shelves and brass display units were full of old clocks; carriage clocks in gilt cases, mantel clocks made of solid wood, expensive-looking clocks encrusted with shiny stones; clocks on shelves, clocks on the walls, even a row of clocks showing different time zones above the main window. Every one of them seemed to be ticking out of unison, filling the air with discordant clicks that did nothing to alleviate Claire's thudding headache.

It seemed an unlikely place to find Sylar, but the Company's file on him listed this ancient shop as his place of work before his power manifested. There were even records of the surveillance Claire's father Noah Bennet had conducted on this shop and Sylar's nearby apartment. Reading those records had made Claire's blood run cold as she realised how Bennet and Elle Bishop had been ordered to trick Sylar into revealing how his ability worked -- by making him kill again. Sylar claimed this was what had turned him into a monster.

"Sorry, we're closed!" called someone from behind a partition in the middle of the room.

Claire reached for the gun concealed in her purse. It seemed mundane to use a gun against Sylar. God knows, she'd tried everything else. But if Hiro's teleportation effort had been correct, this should be at least one year before Sylar's powers manifested and he started his interminable killing spree.

"I'm looking for Gabriel Gray," she said.

The curtain in the partition drew open and a young man looked out at her in surprise. Claire almost didn't recognise him. Sylar's thick eyebrows were obscured by a pair of black-framed glasses, making his long chin seem more prominent, but giving his clean-shaven features a fresh, innocent look. His hair was short and parted to one side, like some movie star from the Fifties, and she noticed he had sideburns.

Claire was equally puzzled by the rest of his appearance as he approached her. His clothing matched the old-fashioned hairstyle; a striped white shirt, high-waisted brown slacks, and a navy blue vest that looked like the kind of thing Claire's adoptive grandfather would have worn. He was carrying a grey velvet jacket.

He looked her over briefly, appreciatively. Men still did that sometimes, even though Claire felt as if she had aged twenty years in one month.

"I'm Gabriel Gray," he said, putting on the velvet jacket. "Can I help you, miss? I'm about to go out."

For a split second, Claire thought this must be a case of mistaken identity. Part of her believed that this nerd who dressed like her grandfather couldn't possibly be Sylar. His manner seemed gentle and his familiar voice lacked the sneer that had become so ingrained since Sylar had re-emerged. But Claire knew this was the only way she could be sure to prevent what was going to happen.

She pulled out the gun.

"I'm sorry. I need to kill you," she said, aiming at his head.

"Woah! What the--?" The man raised his hands and backed away. "Listen, I think you've got the wrong guy. If you want the stuff, help yourself." He indicated all the clocks around them. "I'm insured. There's no need to kill me."

"I'm from the future," explained Claire, still keeping the gun on him. "A future where you are the worst serial killer ever known. You've killed over eighty people. Including my entire family." She choked up at the memory. "You even killed my dog!"

"Look, I'm sorry if you--" He paused. "Wait, did you say you were from the future?" His demeanour relaxed visibly and he smiled. "Did Mike set you up to do this? Because if so, you can tell him I still think _Terminator_ is a crap movie."

"This isn't a joke!"

Claire fired a warning shot past his head. She was never entirely sure afterwards why she hadn't simply shot him dead, but at that moment she needed more than anything else to make him understand that she was telling the truth. The shot shattered one of the dirty roof panels at the back of the shop.

Gray stared at the broken panel, then back at Claire.

"Okay. Look, let's talk about this," he said, raising his hands again. Claire flinched, but forced herself to relax when she remembered that he had no offensive powers at this time. "You're looking for a Gabriel Gray who is a serial killer. Well, that's not me. I mean, seriously. I've never killed more than a fly. I certainly wouldn't kill someone's dog. I like dogs. And I don't kill people."

"I know," said Claire. "I came back to a time before you killed anyone, to prevent what you've done."

Gray shook his head. His tone was conciliatory, but Claire could tell he didn't believe her story. "Right. You came back in time. And how exactly did you do this?"

"One of my friends has… _had_ the ability to teleport through time. He worked out a way of sending me back."

"To let you do the dirty work on your own?" said Gray softly.

Claire swallowed hard and lowered the gun. "He was sick. Dying. Using his ability made him sicker, but he just had enough energy to send one person here."

Gray frowned; something she had said was giving him pause. He moved over to adjust a clock on the wall. Startled by the sudden movement, Claire pointed the gun at him again.

Gray raised his hands in submission, but his head was lowered and his expression less calm. He was looking at Claire from under his brows; a typical Sylar mannerism only slightly softened by the glasses.

"You said he had an 'ability'," said Gray thoughtfully. "Is this anything to do with Dr Chandra Suresh and his research?"

Panic suddenly seized Claire. This couldn't be a year before his first murder if he knew Suresh already. The clock he had been fiddling with bore the date: April 26th. Sylar's old Primatech file said that he had killed his first victim, Brian Davis, on April 27th.

"You know Dr Suresh," she said, unable to hide her disappointment that Hiro had landed her in 2006, not 2005.

"Yes, in fact, I'm going to see him now," said Gray, his demeanour changing completely. He spoke with enthusiasm. "Have you read his book? Isn't it intriguing? The idea of evolved humans, each with their own unique abilities. Dr Suresh thinks I might be one of them. He just can't work out what my ability is yet."

"Intuitive aptitude," said Claire coldly. At Gray's puzzled look, she added, "You can understand how things work just by looking at them."

Gray got a distant look in his eye. "Yes, I can," he said with a hint of a smile. "I always could. Everyone said it was weird… But I always felt I was special." He looked at Claire. "How do you know what my ability is anyway? Oh, yes, I forgot. You're from the future. The future where I'm a serial killer with a really good understanding of clocks."

Despite the note of sarcasm in his voice, Gray's expression was gentle. He glanced at the time.

"Look, this is really interesting," he said, "but I do want to see Dr Suresh. He's going to run an EEG test on me. If what you say is true, I think it could help if we tell him what my ability is." He paused and smiled at her. "Why don't you put that gun away and come with me, um…?"

"Claire," she replied, almost immediately wishing she'd used a pseudonym.

"Claire," he repeated with a smile. "Nice name. I'm Gabriel."

In spite of herself, Claire returned his smile. "I know."

* * * * *

"So, they don't have money in the future?" asked Gabriel.

He pocketed the change the driver had given him and sat down beside Claire. To Claire's absolute astonishment, Gabriel did not own a car and apparently didn't believe in taking cabs. As a result, they were travelling to Dr Suresh's apartment by bus.

"Of course they have money in the future," said Claire. "It's only four years in the future. I just didn't think I'd need change for a bus."

"Four years isn't much of a leap, really. I'd have gone back to a different time." Claire could tell that Gabriel was in a good mood. "You know, the 19th century or something. To see history in action."

"I'm not on vacation," said Claire tersely. "And I'm not lying. Look."

She rummaged in her bag and pulled out her student ID. Gabriel observed it with vague interest.

"2009-2010," he read. "Okay, it looks real, though I'm not up on colleges in D.C." He shrugged. "I guess if I have a magical power to understand clocks, someone could have the power to bend time. Though I'd have to say my ability is a bit more probable. I mean, if it's that easy to flash about through time, why don't we meet time-travellers more often? Also, if you've come back to change the past, how do you know you need to change the past, since you've come from the future you presumably changed? In theory, once the timeline has been changed, you shouldn't remember the way things were. So you wouldn't need to come back."

Claire shook her head; the headache that had plagued her since the time jump was coming back. She hadn't expected Gabriel to _argue_ with her. But then she hadn't planned on having a conversation with him.

"I don't know about the theory," she said. "All I know is that in practice, if you go back in time, you remember the time you came from. You make your change, you go back and… there you are in a different reality."

"So how were you planning to get back?"

"I wasn't."

Gabriel raised his eyebrows. "You were just going to murder me and what -- stick around to suffer the consequences?"

"Something like that."

Gabriel scratched his temple; Claire noticed idly that he had a chicken pox scar just above his glasses. She rubbed her forehead, half wishing she hadn't talked Hiro into this stupid plan. Killing Sylar would have been easy -- she'd technically done it four times already -- but she couldn't murder this innocent man. Her best course of action now was to stay with Gabriel as much as possible and stop him from ever turning into Sylar.

"And another thing," said Gabriel. "Isn't there a chance that you might bump into your former self?"

"Unlikely. I was a high-school cheerleader in Texas in 2006."

Gabriel looked puzzled. "A cheerleader? You don't look that young. I mean, it isn't that you don't look young and obviously, you're a student. It's just… I didn't think you were _that_ young. I figured you were a senior or something."

"No. I'm a freshman."

"Okay…"

He seemed disappointed and Claire couldn't help smiling. "Oh, come on, I'm not that much younger than you."

"It's been a while since I was a freshman," he said sheepishly. "I'm twenty-nine."

"Oh," said Claire. "Right."

It made sense; Sylar had said something about being practically twice her age. Claire remembered how he had laughed at her when he said that and followed it with a crude remark about playing her 'Daddy'.

Claire looked out of the window. Miles away, at the other end of the country, her family were enjoying their last months of apparently happy family life. But even that was a lie. Claire would soon be getting the first inkling of her ability; Sandra's mind was already full of holes; Noah had already spent years deceiving and killing. And Lyle… well, Lyle was just living his own little life, oblivious to the tragedy unfolding around him.

Tears welled in Claire's eyes. It had been over a month, but nothing would ever erase the memory of what Sylar had done.

"I'm sorry," said Gabriel, patting her awkwardly on the back. Claire flinched, but relaxed; this wasn't Sylar. "I-- If you're really from… well, I'm really sorry."

Claire didn't trust herself to say anything. She remembered her last view of Sylar, dressed entirely in black, holding his hand out, palm forward and sparkling bright blue, as he slowly tortured Noah Bennet to death.

"Why did he do it?" asked Gabriel after a pause.

"It's kind of complicated to explain," said Claire. She didn't want to dwell on the motives for Sylar's specific vendetta against the Bennets and Petrellis. "I guess the short version is that all his powers drove him insane and he reached a point where he just didn't want to stop killing."

"Powers?" said Gabriel with interest. "Not just the one?"

Claire hesitated. She didn't know when Sylar had discovered his ability to absorb other powers. The realisation could have come before he met Davis, prompting his first crime. In that case, telling Gabriel the truth might encourage him to try the method for himself, and she would be back to square one.

On the other hand, Sylar might have realised what he could do only after he had murdered Davis. Hiro seemed to think that Sylar had felt genuine remorse for that first murder. Peter seemed to think that even after he became Sylar, he had wanted to control his thirst for power. In fact, Peter seemed to understand an awful lot about Sylar and even thought they could talk to him…

Well, Peter and Hiro had always been a bit naïve and their opinions were based on visions and visits to a future which had never come to pass. However, there was a faint possibility that foreknowledge might prevent Gabriel from embarking on a killing spree.

"Your ability allows you to understand how other people's abilities work," she said finally. The truth was generally the simplest explanation; if there was one thing she knew about Sylar, it was that he did not like being lied to.

"Then why kill them? To eliminate the competition?"

Gabriel seemed curious but detached; he still didn't think himself capable of murder. It confirmed Claire's hope that he had had no idea he could acquire powers before he actually murdered someone. She wondered if that first murder might have been an accident.

"No, you need to see inside their brains to acquire their power."

Claire let the sentence hang in the air between them. Gabriel seemed to be digesting this new information, his features serious behind his thick glasses.

"So I'm able to take other people's powers," he said thoughtfully. "By observing the area that controls their abilities and using my power to understand how it works. Why would I want to? What kind of other powers do people have, aside from time travel?"

Noticing that his reaction was curiosity rather than disgust, Claire decided not to let him dwell on the possibilities. "Every ability is different. Some are good, some not so good."

"Do you have one?"

"I'd rather not talk about it," she said.

She was grateful when Gabriel didn't press her. Claire looked out of the window again, losing herself in the memories. Sylar's relentless pursuit of her culminating in him cutting her open and taking her ability. Sylar hovering in the middle of her mother's living room, hands alight, eyes evil under his dark brows. Sylar, who despite all her protests to the contrary, had succeeded in turning her into a killer and making himself the most important person in her life.

When she turned to look at Gabriel again, he was watching her. He lowered his eyes hastily when he caught her gaze, as if embarrassed to be staring.

"He really killed your entire family?" he asked.

"Yes." Claire swallowed hard. "He really did."

"Do I look--" said Gabriel, before shaking his head. "Dumb question. Of course I look like him."

"Actually, you don't. Not really." Claire looked over his mismatched clothing and neat hairstyle. "Sylar didn't wear glasses. And he didn't dress like that either."

She wasn't entirely sure why she was talking about Sylar in the past tense. It felt good, though. Gabriel laughed, baring his straight white teeth in a self-deprecating smile.

"I see. Inspecting people's brains improves your eyesight, does it?" He looked down shyly. "He called himself Sylar? Ironic, I guess. Gustav Sylar was a German watchmaker; died in 1936. He would have pronounced it Zu-lar, obviously, being German, but the English pronunciation is generally used these days. I've been fixing one of his watches for seven years… It's a strange choice."

Gabriel's immediate recognition of the name made Claire's heart sink. He wasn't yet Sylar, but everything was there; his delight at having an ability, the curiosity about other powers, the name. And although they hadn't touched on it, Claire knew that Gabriel had the same messed up family background.

Claire was starting to realise the extent of the situation she had placed herself in. She wondered what she was going to do with the rest of her life from this moment on. It wasn't as if she could spend all her time following Gabriel around to make sure he didn't kill anyone. And there were more practical matters to consider; she had brought her purse, but her ATM card wouldn't work at this time, and she had nowhere to stay.

Perhaps sensing that Claire was lost in unpleasant thoughts, Gabriel squeezed her hand. His large fingers curled around hers felt good; Claire couldn't remember the last time someone had offered her such a simple gesture of comfort.

"Now I know what's going on, I promise I'll fix it," he said quietly.

It didn't entirely make sense, but Claire let him hold her hand and hoped fervently that he was telling the truth.

* * * * *

Claire was surprised to find that she had already been to Dr Suresh's apartment. As Gabriel opened the building's main door for her, she remembered going there just the previous year, to warn Matt Parkman about Nathan's plans to round up all the people with abilities. It reminded her of a time when all her family was alive, save only her biological mother, and when she had thought -- not for the first, nor the last time -- that Sylar was dead. It felt like a lifetime ago.

Concerned that Suresh might already be aware of her existence in Texas, Claire asked Gabriel to change her name to 'Sandra' as they went up to the apartment. Gabriel seemed to take this new oddity in his stride. When Dr Suresh opened the door and gave Claire a surprised -- and decidedly unwelcoming -- look, Gabriel introduced her as "my girlfriend, Sandra". He even gave her an awkward little hug for added emphasis.

Suresh seemed to accept the explanation, though he was visibly put out by Claire's presence. He offered them strong tea that was so hot Claire could feel her upper lip burn as she drank it. As was her habit these days, she welcomed the dull pain without comment. Gabriel didn't even taste the drink, putting his cup aside as he sat on the chair opposite Suresh's computer.

Claire was disappointed by Mohinder's father; he lacked his son's good looks and mad scientist demeanour. He was more like an irascible schoolteacher and ordered her to sit in a corner while he hooked Gabriel up to some kind of scanning device on his PC. Maybe he thought that people not directly related to his research weren't worth talking to.

As she headed for her seat, Claire noticed a large map on the wall. Multiple coloured threads connected a constellation of pins, each representing an individual person, most with photographs attached. After checking that Suresh and Gabriel were still occupied with the scan, Claire surreptitiously tore the photograph of herself off the map. Suresh obviously hadn't recognised her -- hardly surprising as she was about fourteen on the picture -- but she didn't want Gabriel to know for sure that she had an ability.

Suresh asked Gabriel to stay still while the machine registered his brain waves. Sitting behind Suresh, Claire had a clear view of the coloured lines scrolling across the screen. Some were fluctuating so wildly that they intersected. Suresh was taking notes on a pad, occasionally clicking on particularly interesting zigzags. A couple of times, Gabriel caught Claire's eye and smiled at her, but that made the zigzags more pronounced and Suresh told him to stop.

"Why do you repair watches, Gabriel?" asked Suresh after a few minutes. The wild fluctuations seemed to have calmed down and he had stopped taking notes.

Gabriel sighed. "My father didn't really give me a choice."

"Yes, but why not do what you want to do?" insisted Suresh. "Why not change?"

"You use a phrase in your book ... evolutionary imperative," said Gabriel.

"That which we are destined to do."

"Sea turtles die on the same exact beach where they were born, lions slaughter gazelles, spiders eat their young. They don't want to. They have to."

The impassioned way Gabriel spoke sent shivers down Claire's spine. Sylar had used that same phrase once, when she asked him why he had killed Nathan. _"It's my evolutionary imperative, Claire. Like father, like son." _He had then told her about his real father and what he had done in front of his young son. Gabriel presumably harboured the same traumatic memory.

"But the irony is that, as humans, we are indeed capable of change," continued Gabriel. He smiled at Claire over Suresh's shoulder, giving the lines one last twitch. "In a heartbeat, new possibilities can arise, a new beginning becomes achievable. The world becomes less bleak. The future less set in stone."

Dr Suresh seemed mesmerised by the readings on his computer screen. "Indeed."

"Is everything all right?" asked Gabriel, concerned by the doctor's lack of attention. "Am I healthy?"

"Yes, healthy, of course," said Suresh dismissively. He unhooked Gabriel from the machine; Claire could hear the excitement in his voice. "Mr Gray, you are more special than I could ever have imagined. Your readings are extraordinary… off the scale… even allowing for any effect caused by your girlfriend's presence."

The doctor stood and had the audacity to shoot her a dirty look over his shoulder, as if her mere existence were impeding his research. Knowing what she did about his involvement at the Coyote Sands detention centre, Claire was tempted to ask about the tests he had once run on innocent people with abilities. On the other hand, Suresh clearly had no recollection of those events; his current haphazard research was no doubt the result of half-erased memories.

"So did you get what you wanted?" said Gabriel, looking up at the doctor like a student about to receive an award. "Do you know what my ability is?"

Suresh shook his head. "No, I'm afraid my research hasn't gone far enough to detect specific abilities yet... You haven't noticed anything particular, anything that might have changed since I measured you yesterday?"

"I think I may have a greater understanding of how… people work," said Gabriel tentatively. "It's something I've always felt about inanimate objects, but it seems to have changed. Blossomed, if you will. Perhaps the knowledge of my potential has allowed me to realise it."

Despite his initial enthusiasm, Suresh sounded disappointed by Gabriel's ability. "This isn't an ability that will be easy to demonstrate to others. Not unless you can read minds?" he added hopefully.

Gabriel winced. "Um, I don't think so. It's more of an understanding of why your genetic code has made you bald, that kind of thing."

Claire couldn't work out whether this revelation was sincere or he was simply extrapolating an innocent ability from what she had told him on the bus.

"Well, that would certainly prove useful to a geneticist," said Suresh with a chuckle. "We will see if the MRI and CAT scans reveal anything new, but in the meantime, I would like to take some blood to compare your DNA with some of the other samples I have collected."

Suresh seemed a lot happier now that Gabriel's potential was confirmed. He filled a couple of vials with Gabriel's blood and pressed a small cotton ball to the puncture, instructing Gabriel to hold it in place. Suresh turned away to note Gabriel's details on the vial, then lifted the cotton to peer at the place where the needle had been inserted.

"I don't think you'll need a plaster, Mr Gray," he said cheerfully. "I can't even see where the puncture was."

Claire's blood ran cold, but neither Gabriel nor Suresh seemed to notice anything unusual.

"Now, why don't I let you and your girlfriend enjoy the spring sunshine?" said Suresh, opening the door for them. "I'll call you tomorrow if we can have the scanner at Columbia."

Claire and Gabriel walked down to the street in silence. They had just come out of the building when Claire noticed a man stepping out of a cab. Her heart missed a beat as she realised it was Noah Bennet, alive and well in this past, and leaning into the cab to pay his fare. Any moment now, he would straighten up and see her. Despite the intervening years, it was unlikely that he wouldn't recognise Claire and there was nowhere to hide. Taking inspiration from dozens of unimaginative movies, Claire wrapped her arms around Gabriel's neck and pulled his head down for a kiss.

Although Gabriel was probably surprised, he played along, finding her lips with his own as he folded his arms around her. The difference in their heights and the fact that they were standing in the middle of the sidewalk made the kiss awkward. But it had been over a year since anyone had kissed her and Gabriel's soft lips on her mouth made Claire's body tingle. She kissed his lips without deepening the touch, and Gabriel responded in kind.

Claire broke the kiss once she was satisfied that her father had entered the building without seeing her. Gabriel straightened up and Claire was amazed to find that the tops of his cheeks, just under his glasses, were red. Gabriel was blushing.

"Oh, wow," he said, adjusting his glasses even though they weren't askew. "I thought people only did that in the movies." He looked around. "Who were we avoiding?"

"What makes you think I was avoiding someone?" asked Claire innocently.

Gabriel looked at her sheepishly as they headed for the bus stop. "Girls aren't usually overcome by my animal magnetism within a couple of hours of meeting me."

Given his dress sense and the boring life he seemed to lead, Claire suspected that not many girls were overcome by his animal magnetism at any point in their acquaintance. Knowing that Sylar could not be entirely a product of insanity, Claire thought it was a shame it had taken a series of murders to reveal Gabriel's potential in this respect. She examined this incongruous thought and decided that she didn't want to know why she thought Sylar was a representation of Gabriel's 'animal magnetism'.

Gabriel's face had returned to its normal colour by the time they reached the bus shelter. Looking up at him, Claire was concerned to find that she could no longer see the scar on his temple. On the other hand, it was hard to be sure, since he was a lot taller than her. It was also possible that the puncture from Suresh's blood test had been genuinely too small to see in the dim light of his apartment. Claire tried to dismiss her concerns about Gabriel's possible ability to heal.

"So who was the guy with the glasses?" asked Gabriel, looking out for a bus.

"My father."

There was no reason not to tell him; that particular feud hadn't started yet. Gabriel seemed about to ask more about Claire's father, but he noticed a bus coming around the corner of the street. It wasn't the one they had taken from Gabriel's shop.

"Listen, I'm heading home to Queens and that's my bus over there," said Gabriel. "Do you… have somewhere to go?"

Claire looked at the bus still stuck in the early evening traffic and realised he was right; she had nowhere to go. Her plan had ended with killing Sylar. Gabriel was looking at her expectantly; the bus was approaching and she had to make a decision.

"I guess I could try and find my uncle Peter," she said finally. "I don't remember his address anymore, but he was living in New York at this time and… he's a good man, he'll help me."

Claire wondered if Sylar had killed Peter in her time. She thought about Peter's impassioned speech concerning the 'unconscionable thing' that Parkman had done to Sylar at Noah and Angela's behest. He had seemed so certain that he could convince Sylar to stop. She wondered if Sylar had listened to him and spared his life. Now she would never know.

"You can come back to my place and look him up on the Internet," offered Gabriel. "Nothing creepy, I promise. I'll make you some dinner and you can decide where you're staying tonight. I think we have some things to discuss anyway."


	2. Chapter 2

It didn't seem possible, but Gabriel's apartment was even more depressing than his shop. Although the ceilings were high, the walls were covered in bookcases, giving the series of rooms a claustrophobic feel. The first room they entered appeared to be the kitchen; white wooden units lined one wall, with cupboards and shelves above them, but all the other walls were covered in books. There were even books stacked on top of the refrigerator.

Gabriel placed his keys on a hook beside the door and walked through the opening to their right. Not knowing what else to do, Claire followed him. The second room, down a short corridor, was large but sparsely furnished; a cream easy chair still in its plastic wrapping, a large display case which looked as if it came from his shop, a desk, various mismatched chairs and tables, and, in a separate section at the back of the room, behind a bookcase, a single bed. Once again, every wall was covered with bookcases, even the small section between the high sash windows. The only break was a mirrored door on the wall behind the display case.

Claire was struck by the stark contrast between this musty-smelling apartment and the spacious, newly decorated rental houses where she had grown up. She thought about sitting on the easy chair, but was afraid her jeans would rub noisily against the plastic. Instead, she sat on a narrow dining chair in front of the desk.

"You must read a lot," she said.

"I do, but most of these books aren't mine," said Gabriel, sifting through the mail he had picked up downstairs. "This was my grandparents' apartment; they lived here for something like fifty years."

"I can tell. I mean, it's… I'm surprised you've never redecorated. Or maybe got rid of some of the books?"

Gabriel sorted his mail into neat stacks and looked around. "No, I've never really felt it was mine. Technically, I guess it belongs to my uncle. My grandparents' eldest son. No one has seen him for about thirty years, but he sometimes keeps in touch with my father, so I guess there's always the possibility he might come back. When Nana died, I moved in and no one said anything, so I just stayed on." Gabriel pulled out a laptop from under a pile of papers and started it up. "I'll, uh, just get you into a browser so you can do your search for your uncle."

He seemed a little embarrassed and Claire wondered if he was trying to hide something. She had spent the last few years sharing the family computer with Lyle, after all, and could imagine what a bachelor might be doing with an Internet connection.

A search in the white pages revealed a Manhattan address and fixed line number for Peter Petrelli. Gabriel brought an old-fashioned black telephone in from the corridor, running its long wire across the floor. It was the first time Claire had ever had to turn a dial to enter a number and her nails grated on the old plastic. When the call connected, she listened to Peter's husky voice asking her to leave a message, but hung up without saying anything. Even a man as idealistic and generous as Peter might be reluctant to help someone who claimed to be a niece he didn't know he had from the future. It was also probable that he didn't know about his abilities yet.

Claire wrote down Peter's address and number, but decided that she needed a plan before she tried to contact him again. It occurred to her that she could use her foreknowledge to do more than save Gabriel. People like Linderman were still alive at this time, plotting their convoluted plan to blow up New York. Claire needed to think about what she knew and what she could do about it.

"Petrelli? That rings a bell," said Gabriel looking over her shoulder.

His tone was conversational, but Claire couldn't help giving him a worried look. Gabriel was putting the phone back in its place in the corridor and didn't notice.

"Oh, I know," he continued. "It was some guy whose wife was involved in a car accident. Some kind of city official. I read about it in the paper this morning."

"Yes, Peter's brother Nathan was… is the DA. Or assistant DA, I forget." It seemed odd to be telling Sylar who the Petrellis were, given all the history there was between them in her time. "He's running for senator. Or he will be very soon... Anyway, he became a senator in the end."

She realised that she rarely spoke about Nathan these days.

"A senator?" Gabriel seemed amused. "They must be a rich family. You really have it all. Beauty, money, time travel… Listen, I'll have a look at the dinner situation, but I doubt it's going to be what you're used to."

Claire closed the browser and noticed that Gabriel's desktop image was a picture of an eclipse. It seemed ironic given what would happen to him during the eclipse only a year later. On the other hand, there was no reason to believe that her father would slit Gabriel's throat if the timeline had changed. Claire shut down the computer and joined him in the kitchen.

"I have some spaghetti and some, um, kosher meatballs," said Gabriel, inspecting a packet he had pulled out of the freezer compartment. "I should have got some groceries on the way home."

"Kosher? I didn't know you were Jewish."

"I'm not." Gabriel laughed. He measured out a quantity of water into a pan and put it on the stove to boil. "I had a Jewish girlfriend once who was very religious and I got to like this brand."

"You had a Jewish girlfriend?" exclaimed Claire, sounding rather too surprised even to her own ears.

"What, is my future self a Nazi as well as everything else?" He sounded half serious.

"No, nothing like that, it's just… I guess I thought…"

Claire knew that Sylar had had at least one girlfriend -- Elle -- but Gabriel didn't seem the type to have that kind of relationship with anyone. On the other hand, she realised that she was judging the book by its cover.

"You thought a nerd like me wouldn't have a girlfriend," he said flatly.

For want of a more rational explanation, Claire flashed her best 'blonde bimbo' smile. "Um, sorry. I used to be a cheerleader. I can be really shallow sometimes."

Gabriel smiled. "Cheerleader. Yeah, you mentioned that." As he spoke, Gabriel opened a jar of tomato sauce, emptied it into a saucepan and carefully spooned some herbs into the mix. "If you really need to know, she was the only one. I guess she was a fellow nerd and we were contemplating breeding a gaggle of nerdlings for a while."

"But it didn't work out?"

"No. Like I said, she came from a very religious family." He weighed the spaghetti before pouring it into the pan of boiling water. "It wasn't a problem from my point of view. I learned everything I could about her faith and what I'd have to do to really become part of her life. I thought it would be a chance to reinvent myself. Become part of a structured society where I would have a place, rules to follow, clear guidelines on how to live my life. It would have meant a few sacrifices, of course."

Claire noticed that his cheeks had gone red again and she had to fight back an irrational urge to give him a hug. Gabriel paused as he lowered the heat under the tomato sauce and counted an even number of meatballs into the pan.

"But then I told my Mom about it," he said flatly. "And that was the end of that."

"You were willing to convert for this woman, but you let your mother talk you out of it?"

"You haven't met my mother. I was only twenty-two and it's mostly been just the two of us after my dad left…" Gabriel shrugged, though Claire could tell it bothered him more than he wanted to admit. "But anyway, no, I'm not Jewish. My most distant known ancestor was apparently a man called Grajinski who came over from Poland in the 19th century. Probably Catholic, though. He obviously decided an English name and a conversion to Protestantism would be beneficial… and _ecce Gray_!"

Leaving Claire puzzled by his last pronouncement, Gabriel turned on the lights. As the fluorescent tubes flickered into life, Gabriel looked around at the bookshelves and old-fashioned kitchen.

"I guess ever since I broke up with Lilly, I've been… It's like I've been holding my breath, waiting for something to happen. Knowing that something was going to happen; something important." He glanced at Claire. "Not something that involved me becoming the worst serial killer in recent history, either. I'm meant for something bigger. Something important. I know it now."

Claire didn't know what to say. She had never felt that call of destiny, just the weight of the constant adversity fate threw her way. Gabriel and Peter were lucky to feel special. Claire just felt like a freak.

"Hey," said Gabriel and he put his arm around her. Claire leaned into the embrace, because no one ever hugged her now all her parents were gone. "Why don't you tell me about you for a change?"

"There's nothing much to say," she said, even though it was an obvious lie.

"Hmm." Leaning against him, Claire could hear the low sound rumble in his chest. "You could start by telling me about your ability."

Claire drew away. "My ability?"

"Yes. This one."

Gabriel pricked his finger with a carving knife. A drop of blood formed; he wiped it off and showed her the clean, unbroken skin underneath. Claire stared at his finger, her worst fears confirmed. She had come to kill Sylar and she had made him invincible.

"When we were on the bus, I figured you might be wrong about me needing to look at people's brains," explained Gabriel. "It seemed unnecessary if I'm supposed to be really good at understanding how abilities work. I mean, if I want to find out what's wrong with a clock, I watch the hands, listen to it, shake it to see if the sound changes… It's kind of difficult to explain. The first thing I do isn't to open it up and poke around inside. Though that obviously helps too."

"You worked out how to mimic my ability while we were on the _bus_?"

"I didn't know that it would actually work," he said, his dark eyes bright with enthusiasm. "I just… tested the theory, as it were. It was obvious you had to have an ability when you said you didn't want to talk about it. So I paid more attention and it was like I could feel your emotions, how conflicted you are about your ability, about me, about being here. It wasn't until you burned your lip on the cup that I understood what your ability was. Then it was like something clicked in my mind. I just knew what I needed to do to be like you and I felt… different. It was… God, Claire, it was the best thing I've ever felt in my life. Like a part of me that had been switched off suddenly came alive… Shit!"

Gabriel turned down the heat under the spaghetti, which had started to boil over. He let the conversation drop as he concentrated on getting the dinner ready. Claire looked through his cupboards and laid the table in the kitchen, her head spinning from the implications of what Gabriel had just done.

Gabriel dished up their meal and apologised for the meagre fare as they sat down to eat.

"I'll get some groceries tomorrow," he promised. "I'm not as good a cook as my mother, but I have a few recipes I'm good at if you're going to stick around. You can stay here until you work out what you want to do. I'll change the sheets and you can have the bed." He paused with a frown. "I think I have an old mattress in the store room. I'll put that in the living room and it'll do me. I can lend you some cash tomorrow so you can buy whatever you need."

"Thanks, that's really very kind," said Claire, though she was confused by the switch from talking about his astonishing acquisition of her power to the mundane details of her stay.

She felt numb with worry and fear, but most of all, she felt stupid. Peter had told her that Sylar was capable of 'empathic mimicry', but Claire had assumed that it was an ability Sylar had acquired, like his telekinesis. It hadn't occurred to her that it was actually another aspect of his intuitive aptitude. Not for the first time in her life, the extent of Gabriel's power frightened her. He had been unstoppable as Sylar and he was already heading that way as Gabriel.

"Did Sylar also have your power?" asked Gabriel after a pause. Claire nodded. "And he acquired it the way… the way you said?"

Claire nodded again. Gabriel put his fork down; he reached for her hand, but pulled back.

"I'm sorry. That must have been awful."

"Awful doesn't begin to describe it," Claire said, pleased to hear that her voice was even. It was a trauma she'd almost forgotten. But not quite.

"How can you bear to be here with me?" asked Gabriel, his eyes lowered. "Knowing what I am capable of?"

That was actually a good question. "You don't… feel like him," was the best explanation she could find. "By the time I met Sylar, he'd killed a lot of people. I think he'd gone completely insane."

Claire thought about Sylar's apology after he had saved her from Stephen Canfield's vortex. Peter had told her how Sylar had saved his life too. But then Sylar discovered that the Petrellis had lied to him and anything that might have changed in him was gone. He'd even murdered Elle.

"Do you think I'll go insane too, if I take more powers?" asked Gabriel.

"I don't know," said Claire. "My father thought Sylar was insane because of the powers. My uncle Peter struggled when he first acquired a lot of abilities, but he had people to help him. His family, people with more experience of abilities. So he eventually learned to control them. As far as I know, Sylar was very much a loner."

She involuntarily glanced around at the dark kitchen, thinking about the lonely life Gabriel seemed to lead. Claire was beginning to see why Sylar had jumped off the deep end; there was no one to stop him.

Gabriel's face lit up with interest. "Your uncle Peter can acquire abilities too? Does that mean abilities run in families?" He got a puzzled look. "My mother has always been against anything magical or out of the ordinary, so I suppose I must get it from my father's family."

"Yes, actually--" started Claire, but she was interrupted by the phone.

"Speak of the devil…"

Gabriel sprinted out of the kitchen to the phone. Claire couldn't initially hear everything he said, but he raised his voice after a couple of minutes. Whoever was on the phone seemed to be having an argument with Gabriel.

"No, Mom, I didn't forget," he said. "I just need to do something for work… Don't start with… Mo-om!"

Claire couldn't help smiling at the whiny way he said the last word. She knew Sylar had accidentally killed his adoptive mother and it was patently obvious even to Claire that he had had some serious issues to resolve regarding parental figures. But in this reality, where Virginia Gray was still alive and Gabriel was a young man with a spotless conscience, his conversation with his overbearing mother was quite amusing.

"Sorry," said Gabriel when he returned after a ten-minute conversation. "My mother plays bridge on Wednesdays and she always wants me to go. I always say no because when I say yes, I have to spend the evening with her friends all cooing over me and virtually patting my head as if I was three years old. I don't understand why she wants me there."

"It's probably because she's proud of you and wants to show you off." Claire had finished her meal; she put her plate in the sink and sat down again.

"Yes. She wants to show off her good little boy," said Gabriel with irritation. "She's proud of the fact I'm not like all her friends' sons. I'm not some deadbeat who has moved to the other side of the country with some girl, bred a pile of kids they never get to see, and only calls when he needs money. She likes to show them that I'm a good boy because I still live three blocks away from my mom and I've never…" His voice trailed off as he scraped his plate off into the trashcan. "Anyway. That's probably more than you need to know about me and my mother."

Gabriel ran hot water into the sink and started to wash the dishes. Looking around, Claire realised that it hadn't occurred to her that there was no dishwasher. She grabbed a dishcloth and dried the plates as he finished with them. Gabriel flashed her a grateful smile.

"Talking of parents, that was quite a coincidence earlier," he said as he tackled the pans. "I mean your father arriving just as we came out of the building. Did you know he was going to visit Dr Suresh?"

"No," said Claire. "I knew he was in New York some time in April 2006, because he brought me back a bear. It was a thing he used to do… I was only fifteen at the time." She wasn't sure why she found the teddy bears embarrassing now. "I never thought about him seeing Dr Suresh."

"It was lucky we were out of the building when he arrived," said Gabriel. "Don't dry the glasses. They'll be smeared otherwise… I guess Mr Bennet would have been mightily surprised to find the daughter he left in Texas sitting in Suresh's apartment with some strange man. It's probably going to be difficult for you to remember everything people were doing four years ago to try and stay out of their way."

Claire put down the dishcloth and stared at him. "How do you know my father is Mr Bennet?"

"I'm not just good at fixing things and picking up abilities." Gabriel grinned. "I can also read. Unless you've been lying to me, it doesn't take a genius to work out that you must be Claire Bennet from Odessa, Texas. Your file was on Suresh's desk and until you ripped it off, your photograph was on his map."

Claire was amazed at how much Gabriel had worked so quickly. She looked down at the dishcloth and wondered if there was anything else he would get from her before the evening was over.

"I'm creeping you out," said Gabriel, sounding annoyed. "I'm sorry. I get a bit carried away sometimes. I tell girls everything I've worked out about them and they give me this look like 'I didn't want _you_ to know any of that, creep'."

Claire took a deep breath. "It's all right. Because you're right; I'm Claire Bennet from Texas. Nathan Petrelli was my biological father, but I grew up with the Bennets. I'm adopted, like you."

"I'm not adopted."

Gabriel said it with such conviction that Claire felt a shiver of horror, convinced that she had let slip the wrong thing. That answered her question about what else he would learn. Thinking about his previous comments about the missing uncle and his parents, it was obvious he didn't know he was adopted. Claire started wiping one of the glasses and tried to change the subject.

"I must say you're being really kind to me," she said lightly, "considering we met because I was trying to kill you."

"I wasn't going to turn you out on the street, now was I?" said Gabriel. "Don't wipe the glass, you'll smear it. What makes you think I'm adopted?"

Claire debated what to tell him. "Sylar told me," she admitted. "Your parents adopted you when you were about three." She frowned, absently wiping the glass she was still holding. "You seriously had no idea? I worked it out because my parents had no baby photos of me. When I was older and asked my Mom about my birth, she told me the truth."

"I told you to leave the glass alone!" snapped Gabriel, snatching the glass from her hands. He held it as he continued, "My mother has baby pictures of me. She told me loads of things about me as a baby. About my birth. About choosing my name. They were all lies?"

Realising that Claire didn't know what to say, Gabriel pursed his lips angrily and banged the glass hard on the counter, shattering it and making the drying rack jump. Claire glared at him, used to Sylar's outbursts of temper. But instead of knocking her against the nearest wall, Gabriel looked ashamed and left the kitchen, running into the living room next door.

Claire found a dustpan and brush to clean up the broken glass. She then counted up to thirty before she went in to see him. Gabriel was at the window, staring unseeingly into the night. His glasses were lying on top of the display case in the middle of the room; Claire realised he had removed them so he could wipe his eyes.

"I'm so sorry," said Claire. "I didn't mean to blurt it out like that. I should have realised you didn't know."

Claire moved closer, but the angry look Gabriel shot at her, his eyes intense under the thick eyebrows, was pure Sylar. Reminding herself once again that Gabriel had no offensive powers, Claire stood her ground, but stayed just out of arm's reach.

"Everything is a lie!" exclaimed Gabriel, punching the wall with his fist. "My childhood, my parents… this." He gestured angrily at the apartment. "All that stuff my grandmother told me about the Grajinskis. They were never my family. You're telling me it's all a lie?"

"No! No, that's true," said Claire, relieved that she could at least give him some good news. "Your biological father is… I guess he's the uncle you haven't seen for thirty years. Samson Gray. Your grandparents were really your grandparents."

"But my mother is not my mother," said Gabriel, though she could tell his anger was already abating.

"If she lied, she probably did it to protect you. Your father was not a good man. He was a killer."

"And my mother?"

"I don't know."

Gabriel leaned against the window for a moment. Claire could only imagine what was going on in his head. Finding out about his ability, acquiring hers, and then being told he was adopted all the same day... Claire felt miserable standing in the middle of the living-room, watching Gabriel in pain, but she was too afraid to touch him.

It was a long time before Gabriel spoke again.

"He killed her, didn't he?"

"Yes."

Sylar had told her that much, gleefully, as if to prove that he had always been destined to be a killer. To show her that something irreparable had broken in little Gabriel Gray the day he watched his mother's dead body fall out of his father's car.

"I remember" said Gabriel, his breath frosting lightly on the windowpane. "Mommy…" The whispered word nearly broke Claire's heart. "The car… the diner… I thought it was just a bad dream… She always told me it was a bad dream."

Gabriel shot Claire a miserable look and went to sit on the plastic-covered chair. He ran his hands through his hair, involuntarily brushing it into spikes. Though she knew that Gabriel was physically stronger than her, even without his powers, and she was still afraid he might lash out, Claire sat on the arm of the chair and dared to touch his shoulder. He immediately turned towards her, burying his face in her blouse. Claire could feel his warm breath through the thin material. She put her arms around his shoulders and leaned her head on his unkempt hair.

A few minutes passed before Gabriel pulled away. He kept his head down for a moment, no doubt embarrassed by his outburst and perhaps by the fact he had been leaning on her chest.

"Thank you," he said finally, looking up at her. "For telling me the truth. And for coming back to save me."

Claire said nothing. She was looking down at Sylar as she had first known him. Thin face, dark eyebrows, spiky short hair, a hint of stubble developing on his narrow jaw. But Sylar had never looked at her like that, his handsome face filled with gratitude.

Claire leaned down and acting purely on instinct, kissed him. Gabriel's sharp intake of breath parted his lips and she tasted him tentatively, running her tongue along the bottom lip before plunging it inside his mouth. He moaned and she felt the strength of his masculine body as he pulled her down onto him. Gabriel was kissing her back now and the unfamiliar sensation of his tongue touching hers made Claire dizzy with arousal. Moving closer to press her body against his, Claire felt what seemed like a hard metal cylinder lying against Gabriel's hip. Realising what it was, she automatically shifted back a bit. Gabriel broke the kiss and placed one large hand on the front of her blouse.

It took Claire a moment to register the fact that Gabriel was pushing her away.

"Claire, I'm not Sylar."

She drew back, still sitting on his knee, and stared at him in confusion. "What?"

"I'm sorry." Gabriel's face was flushed and he kept his eyes lowered as he continued. "You don't strike me as the kind of girl who would just jump on a guy she's just met. So I'm guessing there's some kind of history there and I-- I don't want to take advantage of that."

Claire stood up, readjusting her blouse and smoothing her hair. It was her turn to feel angry and confused, furious that she had been stupid enough to throw herself at him like this. It hadn't occurred to her that Gabriel might not be interested in her despite his body's reaction.

Gabriel went to put on his glasses and stood a few feet away from Claire for a moment, his tall frame stooped in embarrassment, eyes lowered.

"I'll, um, set up the beds," said Gabriel tersely. "It's early, but I think we could both do with some sleep."

He opened the mirrored door and disappeared into what was apparently some kind of closet. It was still only the middle of the evening, but Claire agreed that going to bed in separate rooms was probably the best way out of this situation. She felt so ashamed she just wanted to hide.

Looking around while Gabriel was in the closet, Claire noticed a door in the bedroom area. Her intuition proved correct when it turned out to lead into a small, musty bathroom. Claire sat on top of the closed toilet for several minutes, her mind reeling. She didn't cry, because it would be stupid to cry over a man who rejected her after he just met her. Claire suspected that Gabriel's objection wasn't so much about not taking advantage of her, but more to do with feeling that she was using him. Under the circumstances, that was perhaps understandable. He thought she wanted Sylar.

A quick look around Gabriel's bathroom revealed very little of use to her: a packet of disposable razors; some soap; shaving foam; his toothbrush, but no spare one she might use; toothpaste; and, rather more surprisingly, a set of tweezers. Claire rinsed out her mouth with a little water and toothpaste. She hated going to bed with the furry sensation of her unbrushed teeth; she would have to borrow some money from Gabriel and buy a toothbrush in the morning. Great. Another debt she would owe him.

When she finally felt strong enough to face Gabriel, Claire came out of the bathroom and found him changing the sheets on the bed. He looked up when she approached, but didn't make eye contact. He indicated a large T-shirt at the foot of the bed.

"I found an old shirt you can wear if you like," he said. "I don't wear it."

"Thanks." Claire picked up the blue T-shirt. It felt brand new and had NYC printed on the front; she couldn't imagine either Sylar or Gabriel wearing it. "Listen, Gabriel. I'm sorry I… embarrassed you. I mean, you don't know me and yet you're letting me stay here, giving me food, talking about lending me money. You're being so incredibly kind and generous."

Claire realised that she sounded surprised; kindness and generosity had never been Sylar's strong points. Except for Gabriel's earlier flash of temper when he broke the glass, it was very difficult to see how this quiet man had turned into a serial killer as confident and ruthless as Sylar.

"Don't worry about it. I'm sure you would have done the same," said Gabriel as he picked up the discarded sheets and headed towards the bathroom to put them in the laundry basket. He looked over his shoulder to give her a timid smile. "I'll be in the living-room if you need anything. Good night, Claire."


	3. Chapter 3

When Claire finally woke the following morning, it was close to 10:00 am. She stared in disbelief at the clock on Gabriel's bedside table. She couldn't remember a time when she had been sufficiently relaxed to sleep in so late. Sleep had been in short supply after Sylar re-emerged from his Nathan persona, more unhinged than ever and bent on revenge.

Claire noticed a note on the bedside table, scrawled in a large, jagged handwriting: _Claire - I've gone to work will be back at 12 with groceries - Gabriel_. There were two twenty-dollar bills under the note, along with a set of keys. Gabriel might not want to sleep with her, but he was certainly very trusting.

It occurred to Claire that Gabriel was also just a little creepy. Although she had worn his NYC shirt in bed, and had no reason to believe that Gabriel would have seen anything more than her fast asleep under the covers, Claire wasn't sure she liked the idea of him sneaking into the bedroom while she was asleep to leave a note and some money on the bedside table. He must have been incredibly quiet as he prepared for work.

On the other hand, Gabriel was being very kind and thoughtful, so Claire decided to dismiss his Sylar-like tendencies and got out of bed to start her day. In the bathroom, she discovered that the shower above the bathtub didn't work -- so much for Gabriel's natural aptitude for fixing things -- so she had to take a bath, washing her hair with a plastic cup she found in the kitchen. Gabriel's shampoo made her hair feel sticky and heavy. Claire used one of his disposable razors to shave her legs and underarms, and resolved to use the $40 to buy herself some basic toiletries.

After dressing in the same clothes as the day before, and adding new underwear to her mental shopping list, Claire decided to go out for breakfast rather than fixing herself something in Gabriel's little ill-equipped kitchen. A brief exploration of the area outside revealed that Trenton Place had various run-down but useful stores, a small theatre and a coffee shop serving blueberry pancakes.

Claire managed to find all the items she needed and returned to Gabriel's apartment in good spirits. As he was still not home, Claire changed into the clean underwear she had bought and washed her hair again -- still with the cup, this time leaning over the bath -- but with the shampoo she usually used. She brushed her teeth and even smiled as she looked at her reflection in the mirror.

Feeling normal for the first time in months, Claire explored the apartment. Now that she could see it in daylight, she realised that Mohinder had visited it some months later; the photographs he had taken were in Primatech's file on Sylar. Claire looked in the closet behind the mirrored door. She remembered the photos Mohinder had taken: this was where Sylar had hidden his map of people with abilities. It was also where he had repeatedly written "Forgive me" and "I have sinned" on the concrete wall at the back.

But there was nothing nefarious in there now; just the mattress Gabriel had slept on the previous night, some spare sheets and blankets, and a few boxes which seemed to contain more of his grandparents' belongings. The concrete alcove at the back of the room was visible and bare except for a couple of pipes crossing it.

"Kind of freaky, isn't it?"

Claire nearly jumped out of her skin. She spun around and found Gabriel standing behind her in the living room. He wasn't wearing his glasses and although his hair was neatly combed, it wasn't gelled. His clothes seemed less nerdy too, though Claire wasn't sure why, as he was wearing a plaid shirt and buttoned cardigan. Maybe it was because the top button on his shirt was undone. Or maybe it was just the absence of glasses.

"I've never worked out what that room was originally for," said Gabriel, indicating the storeroom behind her. "Hiding liquor during the Prohibition, maybe?"

"You look different," said Claire.

"Oh." Gabriel self-consciously raised his hand to his eyes. "Yes, um, I thought I'd try life without glasses. I had some old contacts." He glanced at himself in the mirrored door and looked away hastily. "I'd forgotten just how, um…" He gestured towards his eyebrows. "The glasses kind of hide them."

Claire laughed out loud. "Oh, they're fine, Gabriel. You look…" She was about to say that he looked handsome, but wasn't sure how he would react after the previous night. "You look good."

"Thanks. Um, I have to deal with the groceries," he explained. "Then I'll show you something."

Claire followed him into the kitchen, hoping that the "something" would be nothing ominous. It occurred to her that instead of sleeping in, she should have made sure she stayed with him. On the other hand, that brought to mind the image of Gabriel needing Claire's protection as he went about his life, lest he unexpectedly turn into Sylar. There had to come a point when she could trust him. She just wasn't sure now was the time.

Gabriel tidied away the groceries he had bought, though Claire saw him trying to slip something into a kitchen drawer unnoticed. She made a mental note to find out what it was later.

"Okay, so, I have to show you this," said Gabriel.

Gabriel flexed his hands and rubbed them on his cardigan as if preparing to play a piano concert. He looked nervously at Claire, before focussing intensely on the drying rack. Claire's heart sank; she knew that look all too well. The drying rack shifted slightly on its own, scraping on the kitchen counter. A fork sprang out of it into the sink.

"What did you do?" asked Claire in a small voice, scared of hearing the truth.

"What?" Gabriel looked confused, as if tired out by the effort of using the telekinesis. "Oh. Same thing I did yesterday." He smiled. "It was amazing! This guy walked into my store this morning and said Dr Suresh had told him to contact me about his power." He pointed at the drying rack with delight. "_That_ power. Isn't it amazing?"

Claire smiled weakly but nothing seemed to dampen Gabriel's childish enthusiasm for Sylar's signature power.

"This guy, Brian Davis, didn't appreciate what he had," said Gabriel. "He said he wanted me to 'cure' him. I couldn't believe my ears! The guy was a moron. He can move things with his mind and he's _whining_ about it? But I could see this power's potential immediately. Rapid healing is fantastic, of course. But it kind of makes sense; your body can heal itself anyway. But this… Acting on things with the mind, being able to interact with the physical world using only a thought... This is incredible!"

"What happened to Davis?" asked Claire, desperately hoping that history hadn't repeated itself, with Davis as Gabriel's first victim.

Gabriel shrugged. "I suggested that he learn to use his ability for something useful. Even if it's just reaching for his coffee cup at work, amusing his kids, that kind of stuff. He seemed happy with that and went back to his menial little life." He paused. "On some level, I kind of sympathised with him not wanting things to change. It's really weird to think that one week ago, I was just a watchmaker, and, literally overnight, I've acquired accelerated healing and telekinesis. I guess if I'd been more content with the life I had, I might have had some trouble adjusting too."

Gabriel gave Claire a dazzling smile as he continued. "But I feel great! Finding out about this power I have is the most amazing thing that has ever happened to me. And being able to get other powers… I thought it might work differently because I wasn't attracted to Davis like I am to you, but when I looked at him, watched him moving things, it felt the same. Like I _needed_ to know how his power worked. But I knew all I had to do was be a bit patient. That was hard. Waiting while he whined and showed me what he could do. Having to wait for that 'click' when I knew how good it would feel when it came." He bit his lip and frowned, as if trying to mimic how he had felt, before smiling again. "Then it came. The knowledge hit me and I could feel the telekinesis there in my brain, just waiting to be used and tested, sort of like a muscle that just needs to be exercised to achieve its full potential. I have you to thank for that. For showing me how to do it."

"Yeah."

Not for the first time, Claire felt at a loss. Her first instinct had been correct; she needed to stay with him all the time to prevent Gabriel from turning into Sylar. After less than twenty-four hours, he had already acquired the two abilities that had made Sylar such a terrifying opponent. Perhaps it really was Gabriel's destiny to become the most powerful man on Earth and there was nothing Claire could do.

"Hey." Gabriel touched her arm. "Sorry, I guess you can't really understand how it feels. I'm freaking you out again."

Claire let him rub her arm awkwardly, but her mind was racing. She asked herself how many more abilities Gabriel would accumulate before he grew impatient and decided to cut out the observation period.

"Look, let's just forget about it for a moment," said Gabriel calmly. "Let it sink in. So… do you want some lunch?"

Claire cheered up a bit. Gabriel wasn't Sylar yet and it seemed churlish to be so down about a new power that made him so happy. Claire felt that as Gabriel was being so kind to her, the least she could do was be nice to him. She was also finding him disturbingly attractive, as if the new power had given him added confidence.

"I'll cook!" she offered. "If you have some eggs and cheese, I can make a cheese omelette!"

Gabriel let her get the eggs and cheese from the refrigerator and gave her a frying pan. Claire wasn't a great cook, but she had made herself a few successful omelettes in the past.

"Thank you so much for lending me that money," she said once the egg mixture was sizzling in the pan. "You are _so_ sweet."

Gabriel was still standing beside her; embarrassed, he raised his hand to his eyes automatically to fiddle with his glasses. Realising that he wasn't wearing them, he lowered his hand again and settled for looking bashful. Claire had noticed Gabriel's innocent admission that he was attracted to her while he was talking about Davis, but Gabriel seemed reluctant to take things any further and she felt sorry for him.

"I'm sorry. I'm embarrassing you again," said Claire. "I'm going to stop. I promise no more kissing or inappropriate remarks."

"Oh." He scratched his head. "I didn't mean… It's… It's not that I don't like you. I mean I guess you like me and you obviously know me very well. You know more about me than I do. And I appreciate that. I mean, I like you too. It's just that I really don't know you."

"That's okay," said Claire, though she felt disappointed. To cover her reaction, she reached past Gabriel for a spatula to poke the omelette.

She heard Gabriel breathe in slowly as she leaned across him, and realised with a horrible sinking feeling that he was smelling her hair. She remembered Sylar sniffing her at the Stanton hotel and moved away from Gabriel.

"You smell of peaches," he said gently.

"Yeah, I bought myself some shampoo this morning," said Claire, poking the omelette.

"I love peaches," said Gabriel, seemingly unaware of her reaction. "They're my favourite fruit. It's, um, a nice smell." He paused. "I'm sorry. I guess it's a bit weird to be smelling your hair. Lilly used to have a go at me for doing that kind of thing. I just like… Um, I'll lay the table."

Claire nodded though Gabriel wasn't looking at her anymore, rooting around in cupboards and drawers to collect the items they would need to eat. Claire glanced over when he opened the drawer containing the mystery item, but wasn't able to see what it was. She heard Gabriel lay the table behind her, before becoming aware of his large body looming over her shoulder.

"Um, Claire, that omelette is overcooked."

"It isn't burnt," she protested.

"But it is overcooked. It's going to be kind of hard."

Claire reached for the knob to turn the burner off, but Gabriel caught her arm, his large hand easily spanning her wrist. The feeling of his soft hand wrapped around her arm made Claire's heart beat faster.

As Claire watched, the frying pan shifted jerkily off the burner. The dial on the cooker turned slowly, first in the wrong direction, causing a burst of flame to rise from the burner. Then it spun the opposite way, extinguishing the supply of gas to the burner. Gabriel was obviously practicing his new ability.

He let go of Claire's arm and picked up the frying pan.

"Never mind," said Gabriel, inspecting the flat, brown omelette in the frying pan. "We'll just cut it up have it with the salad I bought. It's still food."

As they sat down to their second meal together, Claire thought about how she could keep an eye on Gabriel. That led her to wonder how much longer Gabriel would be willing to let her stay with him. It was unlikely that he would agree to let her be his live-in guiding conscience for more than a few days. She also had to consider the practicality of staying for more than a week in his apartment with only one bed, a broken shower and no TV. Not to mention the creepy plastic-covered chair.

"I should look for a job," said Claire. "I'm going to need clothes and some more stuff, so I need to earn some money. Then I'll be able to move out."

"There's no hurry," said Gabriel. "You could help out at the shop for a while. Until you get sick of being with me 24 hours a day, that is. I'll give you money for clothes if you need some. I got a couple hundred dollars out this morning. That should get you started if you want to go shopping this afternoon."

"Gabriel, I can't accept that," protested Claire. "I just need a while to get myself sorted out."

"I get that you don't want to owe me anything more. But I really can't let you stay here and wear the same clothes every day." Gabriel poured her some water. "I'll lend you that much and then nothing else, okay? You can work in the shop next week and we'll say anything else I give you is payment for your work. I've been meaning to sort out some of the stuff in the office for years, so I figure you can help me."

"Thanks. I will get in touch with my family too," promised Claire. "And then I'll let you get back to your life. I just need to think about what to tell them. I'm not their Claire anymore."

"Maybe you should consider returning to your own time and seeing how things panned out after the changes you've made." Gabriel spread his hands. "After all, your friend who sent you here must be around in this time. Maybe you can find him and convince him to send you back?"

"Maybe."

It hadn't occurred to Claire that the present-day Hiro could send her back to her own time. On the other hand, Hiro was probably still in Japan and Claire couldn't remember when his powers had manifested. She did remember Hiro telling her that he had travelled back to this time to try and save his girlfriend Charlie Andrews from Sylar. But there was no reason to believe he would have done that now that Gabriel's destiny had changed. Claire glanced at the drying rack. At least, she hoped Gabriel's destiny had changed.

"Talking about people with abilities, Dr Suresh called this morning," said Gabriel. "He has some more possible candidates with powers he wants me to meet. He's also got the go-ahead to get me a brain scan at Columbia."

"Don't go."

Gabriel looked at her in surprise, his dark eyes wide under the heavy eyebrows. "He wants me to be his Patient Zero. Someone he can study and use to convince other people with abilities to work with him. You don't want me to help him?"

"I guess I don't know how things will turn out." Claire sighed. "But Suresh led Sylar to a load of people with abilities and he murdered them all. At least twelve victims in the first six months."

"Including Brian Davis, I suppose?" asked Gabriel.

Claire nodded. "And Dr Suresh."

"And Dr Suresh?" Gabriel blanched. "Even after he revealed my power to me and helped me realise my potential?"

Claire wasn't sure that was how Dr Suresh's relationship with Sylar had gone, but she said nothing.

Gabriel shook his head. "But I didn't kill Davis today. Doesn't that suggest that things are different this time around?" He frowned. "Are you really still afraid I'm going to start killing people?"

"I don't know," admitted Claire.

"But you think staying away from Dr Suresh makes it less likely?"

Claire nodded.

"Okay," said Gabriel slowly. "I'll go with you on this one. But I would still like to meet some people with abilities, to see what else is out there. And maybe acquire the more useful ones."

"I don't think that's a good idea."

Gabriel seemed irritated. "Why? Are you afraid I'm going to take all their powers and what, become addicted or something?"

"You're already immortal and omnipotent," snapped Claire. "If you still want more powers, then, yes, I'd say you're becoming addicted."

Gabriel seemed taken aback. "Immortal? Your power makes me immortal?"

"Yes. You can't die," said Claire, aware that she was echoing Sylar's words to her. "I can't die. I guess we'll just keep regenerating forever, unless we lose our powers or something destroys our bodies completely."

"Ah," said Gabriel thoughtfully. "I suppose some abilities should come with a health warning, then. Wow. That's, um, unexpected." He sipped some water. "I guess I'll have plenty of time to get to know you better."

He didn't look very happy at this prospect. Claire was relieved to find at least one difference between Gabriel and Sylar in this respect. On the other hand, Sylar had acquired her power after suffering torture at the hands of the Company; his motive had been his immediate survival, the immortality a bonus he only seemed to gloat about later on.

"I'm sorry," said Gabriel. "You're right; I should give it a few weeks before I meet anyone else with an ability. I'll just go back to being a simple watchmaker for a while."

"There's nothing wrong with being a watchmaker," said Claire with a smile. "Or leading a normal life."

Gabriel lowered his eyes and pretended to eat, though Claire noticed that he was just moving the food around.

"I was wondering," he started hesitantly. "Would you like-- Tonight, instead of staying here, we could… I mean, we're neither of us very good cooks and it would be nice to, um…" He cleared his throat. "Maybe we could have dinner or something. I mean outside. In a restaurant."

Claire looked down at the tough strips of dark brown egg on her plate. She laughed.

"Yeah, that's a good idea." Gabriel smiled bashfully, still looking down in his plate, and Claire decided to help him out a little. "Actually, I found this coffee shop this morning, just a couple of blocks away from here, and they have a band there in the evening. Maybe we could get some dinner and then go there?"

Gabriel gazed at her wide-eyed for a moment, looking rather as if all his Christmases had come at once. Then he smiled more confidently and nodded.


	4. Chapter 4

"And then West, wearing this creepy mask, grabbed me and flew off. He dropped me from, like, twenty feet up a bit further away. Of course, I healed immediately, but Debbie completely freaked out. She made a total fool of herself telling everyone about the flying man and how I'd died in front of her, even though I was obviously alive and well! No one would believe her."

"I'm not surprised," said Gabriel, sipping his glass of wine and looking shocked. "That doesn't sound like a very good use of either of your abilities. Or a clever thing to do when you knew how much danger your family was in."

"No," agreed Claire, feeling suitably chastised. "But I guess you do dumb things when you're sixteen."

"And in love?"

"Kind of." Claire leaned back in the booth they were occupying in the coffee shop. She supposed she had been infatuated with West at the time, though she couldn't remember why. "It's more that I liked the idea of having a secret, of knowing something my dad didn't know."

Claire didn't think much about West anymore; she had brought up the anecdotes of their time together because it was one of the few things she could think of that didn't involve Sylar. She'd already covered her normal-seeming childhood and the brief months at college.

Her "date" with Gabriel seemed to be going well. They were in the coffee shop Claire had found that morning; the band had been awful, but sitting in the booth with Gabriel beside her, Claire felt happier than she remembered being in a long time.

Following the trauma of losing her family, Claire had paid less attention to her appearance, letting her hair grow out to its natural medium blonde and spending less time on her makeup and grooming. But today, Claire had bought new clothes -- albeit with Gabriel's money -- and had swapped the jeans she normally wore for a dark purple dress that wasn't too revealing, but just sexy enough to make her feel attractive. With her hair swept up and more makeup than usual, she looked more like the Claire Bennet who had started her freshman year full of optimism.

Gabriel himself didn't look all that different; he was wearing a dark suit with a white striped shirt and tie. He had put his glasses on again, ostensibly because the contacts had hurt his eyes during the day. Perhaps he felt exposed without the dark frames covering his eyebrows.

In spite of his conservative appearance, Gabriel seemed more relaxed than usual, leaning towards Claire when he made a joke and holding eye contact when she spoke. He was drinking red wine; not a pinot, much to Claire's relief, though the scent of the wine and watching Gabriel drinking it did bring back some unpleasant memories of the day Nathan had died. But Gabriel wasn't Sylar, and Claire dismissed the memories.

"Tell me about your dad," said Gabriel, leaning on his hand to look at her. "The one we saw outside Suresh's apartment."

Claire smiled, though memories of Noah Bennet dampened her good mood a little. "Oh, he was a good dad. Not a good person, but a good dad. We were a very loving family. I guess you could say that most families are loving, but we were… Things were good." She paused, trying to sort through the memories. "For a while. Until my power manifested. Then things kind of came apart." She shook her head. "No, it wasn't my power, it was Dad. Dad's job, Dad's lies, all the stuff he'd done to us, to Mom… It all came out, and things just got really bad."

Not surprisingly, Gabriel looked a little confused. "How bad? What did your father do?"

Goaded you into killing people, thought Claire, and then tortured Sylar to insanity when he dared to come after me. Wiped my mother's memory so many times she ended up in hospital. Played along with Angela, with Nathan, with Danko, always hedging his bets, looking out for his own interests, playing both sides against the middle until it was impossible to tell whose side he was really on. Or whose side he was pretending to be on, at least; Noah Bennet had only ever been on his own side.

"Not your favourite topic, I guess," said Gabriel when Claire said nothing. "Is your father worse than mine?"

"I don't know." Claire shrugged. "Maybe. Dad's thing was… lies. He worked for this organisation, the Company, and it was supposed to be secret, to keep everyone from knowing about specials like you and me. Their method was to recruit specials to help them, a system they called 'one of us, one of them'. But typically, it ended with the special getting killed or locked up in the facility. They would capture people like us and experiment on them, trying to learn as much as possible and to contain anyone who seemed dangerous. My dad used to call it 'bagging and tagging'. He was very good at keeping secrets."

"So does that mean there's already a lot of research about people like us?" asked Gabriel, leaning forward with interest. "We should tell Dr Suresh, you know. He thinks this is something he's discovered on his own. But if it's something other people have been working on, then he needs to know that he's right, so he can continue his work and tell the rest of the world about us."

Claire hadn't thought about it from Dr Suresh's point of view as the apparently lone believer in abilities. "I think Dr Suresh used to know all about people with abilities," she said. "He worked at a facility where the US government interned specials back in the sixties. I guess his memory was wiped at some point, and he's just trying to get back what he knew."

"His memory was wiped?" said Gabriel with disgust. "Can the Company do that?"

"I'm guessing it wasn't the Company who did Dr Suresh, because it didn't exist then and he never worked for them anyway. But yeah, the Company was always very good at wiping memories. There was a Haitian man; that was his ability. For a long time, my dad got him to wipe my mom's memories any time she came close to working out what he really did for a living. She thought he worked for a paper company called Primatech."

"That rings a bell," said Gabriel thoughtfully. He paused, trying to place the name. "At Dr Suresh's place. I think there was a Primatech van parked outside the other day. But I might be confusing it with something else."

"Well, we've already seen my dad at Dr Suresh's place. I guess the Company must be observing him. It's probably only a matter of time before they become interested in you too." Claire spoke earnestly as she continued. "Don't let them take you, Gabriel. They'll come and either capture you, or offer you a job. Both mean that they'll experiment on you eventually."

"Did they do that to you?" asked Gabriel with concern.

"No. I guess I got a free pass because my dad worked for them. And because my biological grandmother created the Company."

"That would be the Petrelli side of your family, then?" Gabriel smiled when Claire nodded. "See, I am following all this. So is the Company the reason I murdered your family?"

Claire hesitated. "More or less. You… you're special, Gabriel. More special than me or any of us. You can acquire powers intellectually, and I guess the people who ran the Company found that fascinating. They really, really had a thing about Sylar. They pushed him to kill again after he'd murdered Davis and he… I guess Sylar just went with it. They experimented on him, manipulated him into believing… my grandmother really messed with his head and Dad helped her. There was a lot of history there."

Gabriel nodded slowly. He sipped his wine and observed Claire thoughtfully, his thick eyebrows furrowing behind the dark-framed glasses.

"Guess we ended up talking about me again," he said, shaking his head.

"Well, you are the reason I came back," said Claire with a smile. "I think you're fascinating."

Gabriel said nothing; he looked embarrassed and Claire realised that she was coming on to him again. She didn't know whether she should be encouraging him or not. Claire was attracted to Gabriel, but at the same time, part of her was terrified by the thought of what Gabriel probably expected from her. After he went back to work that afternoon, Claire had discovered that the mystery item in the kitchen drawer was a packet of condoms. Gabriel's intentions seemed clear, but the prospect of actually sleeping with a man -- any man -- for the first time was scary. Claire liked Gabriel and she was grateful for all his help, but she wasn't sure how far she was willing to go to show her gratitude.

After a moment, Gabriel tilted his head slightly, as if trying to work something out, his eyes wandering over her hair and, briefly, the low-cut top of her dress.

"Claire, why did you kiss me last night?" he asked.

"You looked like you needed a hug," said Claire, trying not to sound too flirtatious.

"Yes, discovering I was adopted was quite a shock." Gabriel sipped his wine thoughtfully before adding, "Last night, when you kissed me… I-- I didn't want you to because I thought you were using me as a fantasy. That you were thinking about Sylar."

"I wasn't," said Claire truthfully. "I was thinking about you."

Gabriel laughed humourlessly. "You don't know me. You see what everyone else sees; the mild watchmaker, the good son, the law abiding citizen who has never had so much as a parking ticket."

"You don't have a car."

"You know what I mean." He sighed. "Claire, I know I'm not the kind of guy pretty co-eds suddenly want a date with. You know things about me, about my life, that even I don't know. But you've only just met me. I wondered if maybe you'd known me better as Sylar. If perhaps… there was a more personal reason why I was after you. If there was something between us."

Claire frowned at what Gabriel was implying. "No, there was nothing between me and Sylar. I know so much about him because I read all his files after he… after he murdered my grandmother and we realised what he was going to do to the rest of my family. Sylar certainly influenced my life, but we only met a few times. There was nothing between us. And I didn't want there to be."

In spite of herself, Claire shivered at the memory of the few times they had met. Especially the last time. The scene of Sylar levitating in the centre of her parents' living room, hands sparkling blue, came to Claire's mind and she suppressed it with disgust.

"Gabriel, you mustn't think I'm interested in you just because you turned into a serial killer in my past," said Claire. "You're a good man, I can see that. I have no idea what happened to you the first time around. But I can see you aren't Sylar."

"Actually, I am." Gabriel took a deep breath. "I _am_ Sylar, Claire. I know exactly how I became a killer the first time around."

Claire was speechless. It seemed that every time she thought there was some progress, Gabriel had yet another Sylaresque surprise in store.

"When I was talking to Davis about his ability," said Gabriel, "and I was trying to find some connection with him, some way of working out how his ability worked… there was this moment. He turned his back on me and I… I knew that if I could see inside his head, I would know instantly. I just got that feeling. Like an intuition. Or a memory."

"You wanted to kill him?" exclaimed Claire.

"No! I didn't want to," said Gabriel, his eyes wide at the suggestion. "I realised that it would be quicker, more… efficient, I guess. But I didn't want to. And I didn't do it. I knew how devastated you would be to find out that you did all this for nothing. And I couldn't imagine anything more horrible than to live with that man's death on my conscience. Especially when I know there's an easier way." Gabriel hesitated before touching Claire's hand lightly. "I have you to thank for that, Claire. For showing me a better way. For making me realise that I can have what I want, what I _need_, without hurting anyone."

Claire sighed. She squeezed Gabriel's hand, relieved to know that Gabriel felt Sylar's desire to kill, but knew how to control it -- that he _wanted_ to control it. Not just for her sake, but for his own. Claire hoped that this was the sign that she would finally be able to relax and believe that Gabriel's destiny had been changed.

Claire met his gaze and thought for a moment that Gabriel was going to kiss her. But instead, Gabriel pulled his hand away from hers.

"What do you want from me, Claire?" asked Gabriel seriously.

"Well," started Claire, surprised by the question. "I-- I guess I want to make sure you won't become Sylar. That history won't repeat itself."

"Yes, I get that," said Gabriel a little irritably. "I mean… you… you're attracted to me, right?"

Claire nodded weakly, remembering the condoms and hoping that she wasn't involuntarily committing herself to something that made her nervous.

"What do you…" started Gabriel, before changing his mind. "I'm not sure what you want. Yesterday, you wanted to kill me, but then suddenly you kissed me. One minute you want to follow me around, I guess to make sure I don't repeat the mistakes I made in your past. But then you're talking about reconnecting with your family and moving out. And yet, at the same time, you hide from your father and don't leave a message for your uncle… And then there's this date we're on… I-- I guess I'm a little confused by it all."

Claire didn't know what to say. She knew she was attracted to Gabriel and she wanted to keep an eye on him to prevent him turning into Sylar. But on the other hand, she could see that it would be embarrassing to shadow him much longer if there was nothing else between them. She twirled a strand of hair around her finger and tried to think of a clear way to express the complicated feelings in her head.

"I'm sorry," said Gabriel as Claire remained speechless. "You're really young and you have a lot on your plate. I have no right to make demands..."

"It's okay." Claire stopped fiddling with her hair. "I guess I'm kind of confused too."

"Do you want us to, um, date?" asked Gabriel. He picked up a matchbook and fiddled with it nervously.

Claire bit her lip and decided to be honest. "I guess, yes. It's just that you're a bit older than I am, and I guess you… your expectations are probably a bit different about, um, being involved with someone. I mean since we're kind of living together, I guess you think… You must expect…"

"Well, I want you, if that's what you're asking," said Gabriel, his eyes lowered and his cheeks slightly redder than usual. "But I know I want you for the wrong reasons, Claire. You're pretty, you're nice to me… I mustn't do this." Gabriel shook his head. "I don't know if it's Stockholm Syndrome or survivors guilt, but you're obviously traumatised by what has happened to you. What happened to your family. What I did. But at the same time, you're attracted to me. I don't want to take advantage of that." He frowned and looked at her with regret. "For me of all people to take advantage of that would be very, very wrong."

Now Claire was the one who felt confused by _his_ intentions. She wondered why he had bought the condoms if he didn't want to sleep with her. Despite her earlier misgivings, she almost felt disappointed.

"Gabriel, you're right," said Claire. "I have had a crap life ever since my ability manifested, and I guess the fact that a lot of it was down to Sylar makes this thing we have a bit weird. But I'm not so traumatised that I don't know my own mind."

Gabriel took his glasses off. "Claire, can you seriously tell me that you don't see Sylar when you look at me? That you won't flinch if I raise my voice, or shiver if I… I do any number of things that he must have done." He made the wine glass slide telekinetically into his hand. "Everything that Sylar was is here in me, Claire. I believe I can control it, and I don't want to hurt you. But I don't know if you trust me yet."

"I do!" exclaimed Claire, struggling to keep her voice down. "Gabriel, when I first met him, Sylar had come a long way from who you are now. You're not going to be like that. You can use your abilities to… to do useful things and entertain your kids. You didn't kill Davis. You can control yourself, Gabriel, just like the rest of us."

Gabriel nodded dumbly. Claire resisted the temptation to touch him.

"Claire," said Gabriel after a long pause, his eyes downcast. "I think I need to get to know you better. And I'd like you to be sure you can trust me before we go any further. Maybe we can… We could reconsider a bit later, say in a week or, well, however long you want. It's just that…"

Gabriel picked up the matchbook and paused again. Claire watched him expectantly as he struggled to find the right words.

"I just feel that the first time should be… special, I guess," he said. "With someone I-- I have a connection with. Not just because… I mean, obviously, that would be nice anyway, but after waiting so long…"

Gabriel let his voice trail off, his eyes still downcast, his whole demeanour broadcasting his acute embarrassment at what he had just confessed. Claire was horrified to find that her first instinct was to laugh. There was just something stupidly amusing about the thought that Sylar, the omnipotent killer, had reached the end of his twenties still a virgin.

But this wasn't Sylar, this was poor, sweet Gabriel, living a lonely life amongst his grandparents' things and apparently never getting the opportunity to discover how attractive he could be.

Claire leaned over and kissed Gabriel on the cheek.

"I agree," she said in a low voice. "I want my first time to be special too."

Gabriel smiled, visibly surprised by her revelation. Maybe he thought college co-eds slept around more than lonely watchmakers. Gabriel kissed her mouth gently and Claire's heart skipped a beat. Whatever their mutual misgivings about having sex without knowing each other better, it was going to be a long week.


	5. Chapter 5

Claire was in a deep sleep the next morning when she was suddenly awoken by someone touching her hair. Claire sat up before she was fully awake and nearly head-butted Gabriel, who was sitting on the edge of the bed, looking guilty.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you," said Gabriel. "I-I didn't think you'd wake up. I was going to leave a note like yesterday."

"But you were overcome by the need to touch my hair?" asked Claire drowsily, her brain just catching up with the rest of her body.

Gabriel looked embarrassed. "I'm sorry, I just… I won't do that anymore. I didn't think it would wake you up, but I thought if you did…" His voice trailed off as he decided to abandon the explanation of what he was doing stroking Claire's hair while she slept. "Um, I'm heading off to work. Do you want to come with me in case I meet any other people with abilities? Or maybe you'd prefer to go back to sleep?" he added as Claire yawned.

Claire smiled, forgiving Gabriel for the slightly creepy hair touching. The thought of having to drag herself out of her warm bed into the chilly April morning didn't appeal. She hugged the bedcovers to her chest.

"I think I'll sleep in and come see you later if that's okay?" She stretched and yawned again. "Your bed is really comfortable."

"Seriously?" said Gabriel with disbelief. "It's always given me backache."

Claire shrugged. "I don't feel pain and I heal anyway, so I guess I'm kind of easy as far as beds go."

"You don't feel pain?" Gabriel seemed puzzled. "Is that part of your ability? Because I still feel it. I nicked a mole with the razor this morning and half the stuff in my medicine cabinet broke."

Still half asleep, Claire giggled at the thought of Gabriel unleashing his telekinesis accidentally. "You poor thing," she said, leaning forward with a pout she had once reserved for members of her family. "Was the safety razor too dangerous for a powerful man like you?"

Gabriel laughed. "You wouldn't make fun if you had to do as much shaving as I do. I swear as I get older my beard is trying to grow into my eyebrows or something."

"I don't have to do as much shaving?" exclaimed Claire, shaking her head. "You have no idea what women have to go through. There's no way you have as much shaving to do."

"I guess I won't argue with you. You know, I used to genuinely think women didn't have any body hair," he admitted sheepishly. "But at least you can always wear pantyhose. By five o'clock tonight, I'll look as if I've been sleeping rough for a week, and all I can do about it is shave again."

"I guess that explains why Sylar always seemed to be unshaven," said Claire lightly. "He was probably too busy killing to shave twice a day." It felt good to be able to talk about Sylar as a joke now that she was reasonably sure he would never exist. Claire peered at Gabriel's eyebrows behind his glasses. "On the other hand, he must have been waxing his eyebrows because I don't think they were that thick."

"You're kidding, right?"

"No, seriously," said Claire. The last time she had seen him, Claire was sure Sylar hadn't had the same layer of fine brown hairs she could see on the top of Gabriel's eyebrows.

"I'm definitely not becoming a serial killer if I have to wax my eyebrows," said Gabriel with amusement.

Claire wrapped her arms around his neck, but paused before kissing him. "We said a week, but we can kiss, right?"

"Oh, yeah. Sure," said Gabriel. He looked a little surprised, but was already bridging the gap between them to kiss her.

When Gabriel broke their kiss, Claire pulled the covers up her body again and tried not to think about the fact that she was in his bed, naked but for his NYC T-shirt. Gabriel seemed to be having similar thoughts; he fiddled with his glasses and Claire thought he even moved away from her a little.

"I need to go," he said. "One of my best clients is coming in this morning and we'll probably be talking clocks until lunchtime. He's a collector. Some of his pieces are the most exquisite things you've ever seen. I was fixing a Widenham from about 1835 for him recently. The timepiece movement had a fine lever platform escapement with an underslung lever, an escape wheel and a visible balance wheel with a helical spring. I spent ages just…" He glanced at Claire. "…boring you into the ground talking about clocks."

Claire grinned and shook her head. "No. I have no idea what you just said, but it sounds fascinating."

"It's all right. You don't have to pretend to be interested. I'll spend the morning geeking out with Mike, so it'll all be out of my system by the time I come back at lunchtime." Gabriel stood up. "Actually, I was thinking I could close the store for the day when Mike leaves. If you like, you can help me pick some new furniture this afternoon. I figure it's time I got a couch." Gabriel glanced in the direction of the living-room area, as if picturing the mattress he had been sleeping on. "A convertible couch would be good. Because I _do_ feel pain and I'm kind of picky about where I sleep."

"Oh, Gabriel," said Claire. "If you're not comfortable, you know, I can sleep on the mattress. I seriously wouldn't mind."

"That still leaves us with only the plastic-covered chair to sit on, so I'm buying a couch," Gabriel pointed out. He looked around at the worn bookcases in the bedroom. "I might even splash out on a new bed and get rid of these books. It's time I stopped behaving as if my grandparents were suddenly going to come back and take this away from me."

"Sounds like a fun weekend ahead," said Claire, already looking forward to the wholesale reorganisation of Gabriel's apartment.

"Yeah, I know how to show a girl a good time," said Gabriel with a sheepish grin. "I'll see you later."

Claire kneeled up on the bed; Gabriel took the hint and kissed her on the lips. When he was gone, Claire lay down and closed her eyes, though she knew she was too awake to go back to sleep. Instead, Claire thought about Gabriel and made plans for his apartment.

She was mentally repainting the walls about an hour later when she heard the phone ring. Claire got out of bed and went to it, though she let the answering machine pick up. If it was Gabriel, he would no doubt announce himself as soon as the message was finished.

Once the automated prompt on the machine had played through, though, it wasn't Gabriel's voice she heard.

"_Hi, this is Peter Petrelli. Ah, someone from this number called me a couple of days ago, but I wasn't here. Anyway, I'm back, so if you still need to get in touch, you can call me on..._"

Peter left his landline and cell number before hanging up. Claire stared at Gabriel's old-fashioned phone and answering machine, debating whether to call Peter straight back. On one hand, he would no doubt be willing to help her, but on the other hand, Claire was enjoying the little world she was creating with Gabriel and there no longer seemed to be any need to contact her family.

Part of her felt that Peter should meet her original self down in Texas first, just the way it had happened before. But the thought occurred that it was only the threat of Sylar, combined with a future Hiro's injunction to "Save the cheerleader, save the world" that had led to that meeting. With no Sylar, Peter and Claire the cheerleader might never meet.

On the other hand, there was no reason to believe that Linderman and Arthur Petrelli hadn't already put in place their plan to let New York blow up and have Nathan reap the benefit. Which meant that Claire the cheerleader probably still had a role to play in the events that were going to occur on Kirby Plaza, and Peter might still need to make sure she was there.

Claire wished she had Gabriel's aptitude for understanding things, because she was struggling to imagine what Sylar's absence might have changed. A lot of people wouldn't die with the tops of their heads sliced off, but on the other hand, that wouldn't be a great benefit if it resulted in Peter blowing up half of New York City. Even with Sylar out of the equation, everyone else's destinies had probably remained the same.

Still pondering this question, Claire made herself a cup of coffee and turned on the radio in the kitchen. She wondered if Gabriel was planning to get a TV to go with the couch; Claire had probably seen the best of 2006's TV shows the first time around, but it felt weird to have no television to watch.

She was drinking her coffee in the kitchen, still only dressed in Gabriel's T-shirt and listening to some music, when someone unlocked the front door. It seemed too early for Gabriel to be home for lunch, unless his friend Mike had cut short their "geeking out" over clocks. But Claire still stared in astonishment at the small, wizened woman who walked in.

The woman had unkempt brown hair drawn back in an untidy ponytail and wore the kind of thin ersatz cardigan Claire associated with Goodwill stores. She was carrying a large bag of clothes; Gabriel's clothes, Claire surmised, based on the plaid shirt she could see on the top of the pile.

"Um, hi, you must be Gabriel's mom," said Claire, getting to her feet.

Mrs Gray's thin mouth worked a moment before she put the bag down and spoke.

"Who are you?" she said slowly, pausing between each word in a tone that suggested she was going to hate the answer whatever it turned out to be.

"I'm Claire. I'm a friend of Gabriel's."

"A friend?" said Mrs Gray icily, taking in Claire's state of undress with clear disapproval. "What do you want from him? He isn't rich, you know."

Claire felt as though she'd been slapped in the face. It was bad enough that Mrs Gray immediately assumed that they were lovers -- understandable given the circumstances -- but the accusation of taking advantage of Gabriel hit a bit too close to home.

"Whatever you think he can give you, you've got the wrong man," continued Mrs Gray. "Oh, I know your sort. You think you can play on a nice boy's sympathy and take advantage of his good nature." She shook her head. "I really hoped that I had raised Gabriel to be a good man and follow the ways of the Lord. But I suppose men will always be men however hard you try to change them."

"Excuse me," exclaimed Claire, annoyed both at Mrs Gray's perception of her as some kind of manipulative slut and of Gabriel as the kind of man who would fall for such a trick. "You don't know anything about me. And you have no idea what is happening between me and Gabriel."

"I really don't need a picture, my dear," said Mrs Gray with disdain. "Though I'll admit I'm surprised a pretty girl like you has any interest in my son. He isn't handsome, he isn't rich, and he doesn't have a good job." Her small eyes narrowed. "Just out of interest, why _are_ you sleeping with him?"

"I'm not," admitted Claire, trying to look dignified despite her attire. "We- we've only just met."

"Ah, then I apologise for misjudging your common sense," said Mrs Gray, though she looked as if she didn't quite believe Claire's declaration. "Much as I love my son, he isn't exactly a great catch. I've tried to tell him that he could be anything he wants to be, but it's as if he's scared to go out and be anything else but a watchmaker. I've told him most sensible women need a man who is going somewhere, who has some ambition. But it's as if he isn't interested, and I--"

"Gabriel is fine as he is," interrupted Claire before Mrs Gray could make any more disparaging remarks about her adoptive son. "In fact, I think Gabriel is handsome and very good at what he does and, and…"

She struggled to find something to say that wouldn't involve declaring her undying love for Gabriel just to annoy Mrs Gray. This wasn't _Little Women_, Claire wasn't Meg, and she certainly wasn't naïve enough to start declaring her affections just become some old hag was berating her. Fortunately, Claire didn't have to continue her sentence, because the door opened and Gabriel walked in.

He glanced from Claire to his mother and back again, his brown eyes wide; he looked like a deer caught in a headlight. Whatever tiny part of Gabriel had reminded Claire of Sylar's confident, dominating personality seemed to evaporate in the presence of his mother. Gabriel appeared to shrink into himself, his awkwardness and shyness more apparent. He looked ashamed when he noticed that Claire wasn't dressed.

"Gabriel, who is this?" demanded Mrs Gray.

"This is Claire, Mom. She's… a friend. She's staying here for a few days."

"I, um, I guess I'll go get dressed," said Claire, moving towards the door.

"Yes, she told me she was just a friend." Mrs Gray lowered her voice, perhaps in the hopes that Claire wouldn't hear her. "To be honest, I would have said she was way out of your league. Why didn't you tell me she was here?"

Claire glanced over her shoulder to see Gabriel's reaction. His eyes were downcast and respectful, but she could see a sudden flicker of irritation as Mrs Gray's words sank in. Gabriel's eyes narrowed and he straightened up, a faint smile on his lips.

"Because it's none of your business," he said in a low voice.

Still at the door, Claire knew the menacing tone too well to let it go unchecked. "Gabriel!"

"Claire, can you stop interfering in my life for just one minute!" he snapped.

The look Gabriel gave her would have frightened most people even without knowing the formidable power that lay behind it. But Claire stood her ground and returned his glare. Gabriel half-smiled, as if admitting defeat, and lowered his eyes.

"Actually, Claire is my girlfriend," he told his mother. "Anything else about us is none of your business. Thank you for bringing my laundry. I'll give you a call later."

He waved the door open.

"You can't dismiss me like that!" exclaimed Mrs Gray, not noticing how he had opened the door. "I'm your mother!"

"No, you're not," said Gabriel, with a delight that suggested he had just been waiting for that opening.

Mrs Gray's face turned pale. "What did you say? Gabriel--"

"I said you're not my mother. The lies are over, _Virginia_," sneered Gabriel. "I know I'm adopted. I know your husband convinced my father to hand me over in a diner when I was a small boy. I remember… everything that happened that day."

Gabriel looked at Virginia Gray with such loathing that Claire took a step towards him, hoping to somehow distract him from his anger as he continued, "Decades of telling me they were dreams, just childish nightmares. But they weren't dreams. They were memories! The man I saw in my nightmares, the one who could cut with a wave of his finger, was real. My _father_. The one who murdered my mother in front of me. Did you really think I would never remember?"

Claire could tell Mrs Gray was torn between admitting the truth and trying to cling to the lie. Claire couldn't help feeling sorry for her; she imagined how hurt Sandra Bennet would have been to be on the receiving end of her child's anger.

"I could only hope," said Mrs Gray finally. She wrung her hands, her small eyes riveted to Gabriel's features. "I did everything I could to make you forget that evil man and his hippie girlfriend. You have no idea, Gabriel. I knew from the moment she told us -- sent us that silly little Hallmark card to say she'd had a boy -- that I had to do everything I could to get you away from them. I saw the bruises on her, Gabriel. There was no way a woman who let anyone treat her like that could raise a child. Let alone protect him from that monster!"

Claire could almost see Gabriel's anger dissipating at his adoptive mother's words. Claire placed her hand in his and he squeezed it tight.

"It took years to get you," continued Virginia Gray; she looked relieved, as if the decades of lies has been bearing down on her. "But I knew that was why the Lord hadn't blessed me with children, Gabriel. My destiny was to save you. I told Martin to offer them anything, give them money, even, and Samson finally agreed. Oh, Gabriel, I had no idea he would kill her like that, while you were running after their car. You can't imagine how much I've hated him for doing that to you. But on the way home, all you talked about was the toy car you'd lost in the diner, and I hoped… I thought the memory would fade. You were so young. I hoped you would forget."

"I never forgot," said Gabriel softly, his anger gone. "Every woman I've loved has ended up in that parking lot in my dreams, blood dripping from the gash in her forehead. You have to idea how terrified I've been of becoming the monster who ripped them apart. I never realised until now that they weren't some kind of sick fantasy in my mind. They were my memories. I wasn't the monster, my father was… Well, until now, anyway. Now that I can do what he did…"

Gabriel let go of Claire's hand and pointed a finger at the books on top of the refrigerator, slicing clean through the middle. Watching the books crumble into a pile of paper and cardboard, Claire felt sick to her stomach at the thought that Sylar had been unwittingly re-enacting his mother's murder through his own killing spree.

"No…" Virginia Gray stared at the broken books and backed away towards the open door. "No, you can't be. Gabriel, you can't be like him!"

"I'm not!" exclaimed Gabriel, panic suddenly seizing him. He slammed the door shut behind her. "Mom, I'm not. I'm still me."

"You are an abomination, just like your father. Stay away from me!" shrieked Virginia Gray as Gabriel approached her.

Gabriel grabbed his adoptive mother's arm, his earlier rejection of her apparently forgotten. "Mom! Don't talk about me like that. I'm still your little boy."

The cutlery drying on the kitchen counter was trembling with Gabriel's uncontrolled power. Claire could see that Gabriel's panic at his mother's reaction was heading nowhere good but she didn't know how to fix the situation. Things had been so different with her own adoptive parents.

"Stop! Gabriel, stop!" exclaimed Claire.

Gabriel turned on her and, oh god, he pinned her telekinetically to the bookcase. The sensation was so familiar it made Claire want to cry. Behind the glasses, the angry face glaring down at her was Sylar's.

"Claire, can't you trust me to deal with anything on my own?" he growled.

"Evidently not!" said Claire through gritted teeth.

Gabriel's eyes widened and he released her, backing away with a look of horror. His face was pale; he looked as if he was about to be sick. Mrs Gray opened the door and observed them both with disgust.

"I'm leaving," she said coldly. She looked at Claire. "I would advise you to do the same. I'd hoped… Twenty-five years I've struggled with his temper, his nightmares, his stupid little anxieties, and this… this is what I get: his father. I thought I'd saved him, but he turned out just the same."

"No, he didn't!" exclaimed Claire, angered by the tears she could see in Gabriel's eyes. "Gabriel isn't his father. He's a good man who wants to do the right thing, who can control this power. I know, I've seen him do it. I know…" Claire wished she could explain to this woman how close Gabriel had come to fulfilling her words, and how hard they were both working to avert it.

"You poor deluded girl," said Mrs Gray. "You think you can change him with love?"

"Mom, I haven't changed." Gabriel's voice was unsteady and it broke Claire's heart. "I'm the same man I was last week."

"Mrs Gray, he's right. What Gabriel has is a genetic mutation," said Claire, trying to think of an argument that would convince Mrs Gray not to reject her son. "I have it too; it runs in some families and with help, Gabriel can avoid turning into his father." The woman still looked unmoved, so Claire tried something else. "You did a great job with Gabriel, Mrs Gray. He's incredibly kind and intelligent and… I know he can do this. It's all thanks to you."

Claire was lying, but she was willing to try anything to defuse the situation. In fact, she thought Virginia Gray had done a lousy job helping Gabriel mature into a functional, normal man, but she couldn't stand to watch Gabriel and his mother tear each other apart over this. The flattery seemed to have got Mrs Gray's attention, so Claire continued, hoping to make up something plausible enough to calm her down.

"There's a doctor who is doing research into this mutation right now," she said. "That's how we met. I know it's hard to take in; my adoptive mom struggled with the idea of me having this mutation too, but she realised that it didn't change who I was. Gabriel really needs you to be supportive right now. It's the best way to make sure he won't become like his father."

Virginia Gray looked only mildly mollified, but at least she didn't continue to berate Gabriel for this demonstration of power.

"I guess I have a lot to think about," she said coldly, looking from Gabriel to Claire.

"Can I call you later?" asked Gabriel.

"I'll call you."

Claire wasn't sure that Virginia Gray was ready to embrace Gabriel and his newfound powers, but she seemed placated at least. Gabriel leaned against the bookcase with relief when his mother left. Claire stroked his arm, ready to embrace him if he wanted a hug, but Gabriel didn't move. He seemed lost in his thoughts.

"I should have told you about the nightmares," he said slowly. "You have no idea how scared I am of hurting you."

"We all have dreams about traumatic things that happen to us. It doesn't mean you're going to murder me," said Claire, hoping to cut short any excessive guilt Gabriel might be feeling at imagining his girlfriends murdered like his biological mother.

Gabriel touched his forehead with one finger. "Is that how I cut open my victim's heads?"

"Yes." Still trying to change the subject, Claire looked down at herself. "Look, I need to get dressed, then maybe we can go grab some lunch."

"Did I do that to you?"

Suddenly, Claire was back in time three years instead of four, pinned to the wall in her parents' house, begging for Sylar to stop. His eyes -- Gabriel's eyes -- were looking up at her from under his heavy brows. His finger was pointing at her forehead and Claire's head was filled with the most excruciating pain as his power sawed through her skull to expose her brain. The air was filled with the stench of her blood, warm and sticky as it dripped down her forehead.

Claire closed her eyes and sighed. "Yes. That's how you took my power." She looked up at him. "Gabriel, we've established that you're Sylar. All the seeds are there - the motive, the MO, the lousy, unsupportive family background..."

"My Mom isn't --"

"Gabriel, you killed her the first time around. It was an accident, but you argued and she got stabbed with a pair of scissors," said Claire, remembering Hiro's description of the event. "I'm guessing she's never going to be very happy about what's happening to you. But what I'm trying to say is that this time, you're aware of what made you into Sylar and it's not going to happen again."

Gabriel looked crestfallen. He sat down heavily at the kitchen table and closed his eyes. "I'm sorry I yelled at you. I know you're trying to help and I really need to listen to what you're saying. Because… because I'm so close to being Sylar, I…"

Claire wrapped her arms around him. Gabriel immediately turned to bury his face in the folds of her T-shirt, clinging to her like a drowning man. Claire had no idea what to say so she tried to follow her instincts, honed by years of observing Sandra Bennet. Her mother had always known the right thing to say.

"Gabriel. It's all there, but it's not going to happen again," Claire repeated gently, stroking his thick hair. "You know why you're having those nightmares now. It isn't because you're a bad person, but because your father was. You know how to control yourself." She kissed the top of his head. "Oh, Gabriel. Why didn't anyone help you the first time around?"

"Because I'm a sad, lonely creep," he murmured, his voice muffled by her chest. "With a head full of violence and more power at my fingertips than I know what to do with. God, Claire, why are you helping me now?"

Claire leaned her head on his soft hair and tried to think of a logical answer. Perhaps in all those years of being pursued by Sylar, she had sensed the gaping loneliness behind the craziness, guessed at the miserable Gabriel hiding behind the bravado? If she did, Claire had never been conscious of it. Maybe her trust in Gabriel was due to something closer to home; her own need to find happiness with someone. Perhaps she needed a project to help her heal after her ordeal, and what better project than to heal the man who had hurt her in the first place?

"I don't know," she said. "I just know you deserve to be saved and I want to do be the one to save you."

Gabriel looked up at her, his expressive face so filled with gratitude that Claire couldn't resist; she kissed his upturned face and mouth. He returned the kiss with passion, pulling her down onto his lap, his hand cupping her head under her hair. The rough material of his trousers rubbed against her naked skin under the T-shirt but Claire was too turned on by the sudden passion of Gabriel's kiss to care. His large hands moved to her hips, sliding under the shirt to touch her bare skin, pulling her closer to him. His mouth left her lips to kiss her cheeks and neck; Claire threw back her head and practically groaned at the unfamiliar, exciting sensation of being kissed this way.

Gabriel pulled her hips closer to his own and Claire felt the hardness at his groin. Claire's heart started pounding at the thought that Gabriel Gray -- Sylar -- of all people, was going to be her first lover. Claire hesitated, her embrace faltering as she asked herself whether she wanted that first time to happen on a kitchen chair.

Gabriel immediately responded to her hesitation, releasing her hips and leaning back on the chair, out of breath and looking uncharacteristically wanton. Claire sat on his lap, catching her own breath and running her hands through her hair to push it out of her face.

"Sorry," said Gabriel, his eyes downcast. "I--"

Claire kissed him. "Gabriel, it's okay."

She didn't want to repeat their conversation from the previous evening. They had agreed that it was a bad idea to rush into a sexual relationship, and nothing had changed. Claire got up and smoothed down the T-shirt, pleased that it was long enough to conceal her nakedness.

"So, you still want to buy furniture this afternoon?" she asked.

It seemed ridiculously trivial compared to the gravity of everything that had just happened, but Gabriel looked up at her with a smile.

"I-- I, um, didn't get around to telling you, but my friend Mike offered to drive us to Ikea in Brooklyn. He's gone home to get his truck and he'll pick us up in about half an hour."

"Oh, okay. Great!" Claire looked down at herself. "I guess I'll really go get dressed this time."

"Yeah." Gabriel fiddled with his glasses. "Just to warn you, um, my mom isn't the only person who's going to think you're out of my league."

Claire grinned at him. "Good. It's going to be a fun shopping trip."

"Claire." Gabriel stood up to face her. Claire paused in the doorway, waiting for him to continue. "Thank you," he said simply.


	6. Chapter 6

Despite its eventful start, the rest of Claire's first week in 2006 was peaceful. There was no sign of the Company, Peter didn't call back, and Gabriel managed to control his more Sylar-like tendencies.

Most of their spare time was devoted to rearranging Gabriel's apartment. He had to use his telekinesis a couple of times to shift the sofa they bought at Ikea around the living room before Claire was satisfied with its position. It was large and red, incongruous in its modernity compared to the antique shelving and mismatched furniture from Gabriel's grandparents.

"It's a shame Ikea didn't have this sofa in cream," remarked Claire as she sat on it the first evening. "It would match your chair."

She indicated the plastic-covered armchair in the corner of his living room. Gabriel nodded noncommittally and sat down beside her. It seemed a little weird for them to be sitting side by side on the new sofa with no television to look at. Claire wondered what Gabriel normally did with his evenings. She got at least a partial answer when he immediately buried his nose in a book.

"Just out of curiosity," said Claire after reading the Ikea catalogue for a few minutes. "Why _is_ that chair covered in plastic?"

Gabriel lowered his book and looked at the chair as if he had never noticed it before. "Oh, um, Nana got it just before she died. She was afraid it would get dirty, so she never took the cover off."

"And neither did you?" said Claire. "What's the point of keeping it clean if you can't sit on it?"

Gabriel shrugged. "I don't know. I told you; I've left everything pretty much as I found it." He picked up his book, but then lowered it again suddenly. "I guess I never really needed furniture before. You're the first person I've had in here for any significant amount of time aside from my mom."

There was some tension in his voice as he mentioned his adoptive mother; Claire had heard him call her earlier that evening, but Mrs Gray had apparently cut short the conversation.

"You know what, you're right," said Gabriel, sitting up straight and holding his hand out at the armchair. "It's time for a new beginning."

The plastic cover ripped and lifted, exposing the pristine upholstery on the chair and filling the air with the smell of musty old furniture. Claire smiled at the symbolic gesture. After a split second's hesitation, she leaned over and rewarded Gabriel with a kiss on the cheek. He grinned bashfully, turning to kiss her mouth. Claire leaned against the back of the sofa and wrapped her arms loosely around Gabriel's neck as they deepened the kiss.

Making out felt more normal now they had done it a few times, but it still seemed strange to be having a conversation with Gabriel one minute and have her tongue in his mouth the next. Claire could only imagine how bizarre it would be to see him naked when she was only used to seeing him fully clothed. She felt a warm thrill at the thought.

Unsure if she should do anything else during the kiss, Claire tried stroking the short hairs at the back of Gabriel's neck. He responded by cupping her head and running his fingers though her hair. She rubbed his shoulder with her other hand, feeling how warm and strong he seemed under his thin shirt.

Gabriel's kiss grew more passionate, his movements more erratic. He drew back slightly, still kissing Claire, and slipped his hand in between them. It took her a moment to register the fact that his hand was on her right breast. He was breathing faster now, obviously turned on and lost in the moment. Claire froze, surprised by the touch and unsure how to respond. She'd never let anyone touch her like that before.

Probably feeling Claire's sudden tension, Gabriel broke the kiss and drew away, his eyes lowered in shame.

"Sorry, I just… Um, I, ah, need the bathroom," he said, clearly unwilling to discuss what had just happened, "but when I come back, we can have a game of cards if you like?"

Claire nodded mutely and watched him go. She felt like a stupid little girl who didn't know what she was doing. She was making out with him, she'd all but agreed to have sex with him, and here she was freaking out like some high school virgin. Of course Gabriel would want to touch her; it was what everyone did. You didn't see girls in the movies and on TV freaking out because the man they wanted to go out with fondled their breasts.

Gabriel didn't say anything about the incident when he came back and Claire was too embarrassed to apologise for her stupid reaction. They played cards and Claire relaxed, enjoying Gabriel's company and promising herself that she would be less forbidding if the situation arose again.

They had an early start the next day, as Gabriel had decided to show Claire around New York. She already knew the city well, having stayed there a few times with the Petrellis, but it felt different exploring the tourist sites with a lover rather than slightly odd, unfamiliar family members. They kissed on top of the Empire State Building and in front of the dinosaurs at the Natural History Museum -- Gabriel noticeably keeping his hands to himself except for a light embrace -- and Claire couldn't remember when she had last felt so happy and carefree.

Sunday morning was the occasion for both of them to lie in. In fact, Claire was very surprised to look into the living room when she got up and find that Gabriel was still in the pulled out Ektorp sofa bed. He wasn't asleep, though, and grinned at her.

"I guess the 'Ectoplasm' is comfortable to sleep on, then?" said Claire teasingly.

Gabriel lifted his head, bleary-eyed and unshaven, and Claire's heart skipped a beat; he looked so innocent and confused with his mussed up hair and unfocused gaze. He also looked warm; she was tempted to slip in with him, but was afraid that might give him the wrong idea. Although she was willing to take their physical relationship a bit further, she thought that might be a step too far at this point.

"I always sleep in at weekends if I can," said Gabriel, running his hand through his short hair. He leaned up on one arm and smiled at Claire. "There's a weird hump in the middle of this bed that I need to fix, but it's quite comfortable for a convertible."

"I'll have to try it out some time," said Claire. Gabriel said nothing but his cheeks reddened slightly, and Claire quickly added, "I'm going to have a bath… Say, if you're into fixing things, maybe you can look at the shower? It doesn't work properly; all I get is a dribble of water."

"Oh, that's been broken for years." Gabriel sat up; the top button of his striped pyjamas was undone, revealing dark chest hairs. "I prefer baths anyway."

"Showers are easier for washing long hair," Claire pointed out. "I mean, you want me to have nice hair, right?"

"Um, yeah." Gabriel turned red and lowered his eyes, though Claire saw that he was laughing. He pushed his covers off and swung his long legs out of the bed. "I'll take a look now. It might be something I can fix with telekinesis." He waved his hand with a flourish.

Claire could tell that Gabriel was trying his best, but it appeared that whatever was wrong with the shower was not something that intuitive aptitude and telekinesis could resolve. At least the regeneration came in useful when Gabriel nicked his hand on a broken tile.

"I think we need a plumber," admitted Gabriel finally. He stepped out of the bathtub, his pyjamas dotted with water and some blood from his hand. "I'll call one on Monday. I'm sorry."

"It's okay," said Claire with a grin. "I'm actually relieved to know there are still some things you can't do. I'll just have to wash my hair with the cup again."

When she came out of the bathroom a while later, wrapped in a towel, Claire found Gabriel up and dressed. He was sitting on the sofa reading his novel and looked up when she came in.

"Ah there you are. Waffles or pancakes?" he asked.

"Um, waffles?"

"Waffles it is," said Gabriel, springing to his feet. "I'm not a great cook, but I make mean waffles."

Claire remembered West coming to make her waffles one morning. At the time, she had been too relieved that he'd forgiven her for hiding her father's identity to notice how odd it was for a relative stranger to come into her house and cook for her. But she did like waffles.

Claire got dressed and dried her hair with a towel while Gabriel cooked. She didn't want to spend his money on a hairdryer, but she had to admit that it was hard to get her hair right without a dryer and straightener. It tended to go flat and curl randomly at the ends if she didn't style it very carefully. Claire decided she should at least get some conditioner; the comb caught on her tangled hair as she attempted to smooth it.

She went into the kitchen, so engrossed in the thoughts about her hair that she didn't notice Gabriel watching her while he waited for the waffle iron to cook their breakfast. He looked away when she caught his eye, and Claire felt a strange fluttering in her stomach.

"Gabriel, could you help me comb the back?" she asked him.

It was an innocent request. Claire couldn't see what she was doing; there was a bad tangle there and although she couldn't feel any pain, she could tell she was going to pull out a lot of hair if she wasn't careful. So it wasn't as if it was unreasonable to ask the only other person in the room to help. On the other hand, Claire felt as if she had just asked Gabriel to tie her down and ravish her.

Gabriel seemed to take the request at face value; he sat on a chair behind hers and took the comb without a word. Claire closed her eyes and relaxed, like she did at the hairdressers on the rare occasions when she went there. She had always enjoyed having her hair done, even when she was a small child and her mother styled her hair into pigtails.

The comb ran easily through the front of her hair, brushing against her scalp and tugging gently as Gabriel pulled it to the end of the strands. It caught a couple of times when he worked his way towards the back but the tangles fell apart easily when he worked the comb through them. The sensation of the comb and the movement of her hair made Claire's scalp tingle pleasantly. She lowered her head forward to give him easier access when Gabriel reached the bad bit near the crown of her head. He tugged harder on the tangled hair; it might have hurt if Claire could feel pain, but instead it was just a stimulating sensation.

"There," he said finally, kissing the back of her bowed head. "It's beautiful."

Claire opened her eyes, shaken out of her daze. "Um, thanks."

Gabriel leaned over to look around at her face. "Were you enjoying that?"

"Yeah," she admitted.

Gabriel said nothing for a moment, his expression neutral as if he was thinking about something.

"Er, I think I need to make another batch of waffles," he said finally, glancing at the smoke escaping from the waffle iron. Claire laughed.

Claire started work at the watchmaker's store and Gabriel gave her the task of sorting the files left over from his adoptive father's time. It wasn't exactly Claire's dream job, but she welcomed the opportunity to help Gabriel turn his life around and filing was something that required no particular skills.

At her request, Gabriel took the television from his store to his apartment so that they could watch something in the evenings. To be more precise, Claire watched TV while Gabriel pretended to read a book beside her; glancing at him, Claire could see his eyes drifting to the screen every so often and heard an occasional tut of disapproval at her choice of viewing. It reminded her of her father and made Claire laugh.

"What's so funny?" he asked.

"You. You're totally watching this!"

"I am not watching it," said Gabriel superciliously. "It's very difficult to ignore a television when it's on, even if what it's showing is crap. This isn't a talent show, it's a freak show. They've picked most of those people because they're so deluded or desperate that they make good television. It has nothing to do with talent."

Claire shrugged. "No, but it is entertaining. Don't be so square. Just watch it with me and you can tell me what's wrong with it instead of being so passive-aggressive about it."

To ensure that he wouldn't return to his book, Claire leaned against him, as she had often done with her mother or father when watching a late night movie. After a moment's hesitation, Gabriel shifted his position so that Claire's back was pressed to his front, his arms loosely folded on her waist. Claire closed her eyes a moment, enjoying the simple embrace. When the next commercial break came on, she twisted her head to look up at him.

"I'm really happy with you, you know," she said gently. "This feels kind of normal."

Gabriel smiled. "I think it feels kind of special, actually."

Claire lifted her face as far as it would go and Gabriel met her halfway for a kiss. It felt odd given her awkward position, but Claire opened her mouth to him and they forgot all about the TV show. Gabriel cupped her face, kissing her cheek and forehead when his lips left her mouth. It felt wonderful, just as tender and erotic as the full on kiss, and Claire sighed with happiness.

Given her earlier thoughts about letting him touch her, Claire was almost disappointed when Gabriel didn't go any further.

"I- I'm not sure what to do," he admitted in a whisper. "I don't want to do anything you don't want."

Claire swallowed hard. "I don't know what I want either. I mean… we said a week."

"Yes." Gabriel smiled sheepishly. "I guess if you want, we can make a date for Thursday and just… I don't know."

"Fold out the Ektorp, get naked and see what happens?" suggested Claire.

Gabriel covered his face with one hand to hide his mixture of embarrassment and amusement. "Oh my."

"Yeah." Claire laughed and kissed his chin. She gazed up at him seriously. "Or we could do it now."

Gabriel returned her gaze, his expression as serious as hers. But before he could respond, the telephone rang. He held out his arm and the black phone flew into his hand, but when he picked up the receiver, he stood up and turned his back on Claire.

"Yes, Mom, I know… I'm sorry…"

Claire turned her attention back to the television. By the time Gabriel had finished his conversation with his adoptive mother, it was obvious he wasn't in the mood to resume his talk with Claire. He was frustrated by Mrs Gray's refusal to accept that he could be a good man with his powers; she was apparently pushing him to find a way to get rid of them. Claire listened to him rant angrily for a while, offering him a friendly ear; she soon realised that getting naked would probably have to wait for another night.

In any case, their happy, peaceful life didn't last long. A couple of days after starting work at the shop, Claire returned to the store with their lunch and noticed that Gabriel was talking to a customer. She let herself in through the back door and arranged their food on the desk, listening idly to the conversation while she waited for the customer to leave.

"It's a Sylar field edition from 1933. One of the last models Gustav Sylar designed before the Nazis took over," she heard Gabriel say.

"Yeah, it's the kind of connection that my dad likes. Can you fix it?" said a young woman's voice. It sounded familiar but Claire couldn't quite place it.

"Of course. I'll have it ready for you on Tuesday." There was a pause before Gabriel added, "So, are you 'one of us' or 'one of them'?"

"Excuse me?"

There was a thud and the sound of one of the display cases rattling. The young woman let out a cry of surprise. Alarmed, Claire looked out through the curtain that separated the back room from the shop.

Gabriel was standing in the centre of the store, his left hand raised to pin a young blonde woman to one of the display cases. She was breathing heavily and looking up at Gabriel with a mixture of admiration and fear.

"Elle," murmured Claire, her heart suddenly missing a beat.

Gabriel approached Elle warily, his hand still extended as if he expected her to strike. Claire was pleased that he didn't take Elle at face value like many of her victims.

"I saw you come out of that Primatech van over there," said Gabriel, looking Elle over with curiosity. "I know all about the Company. I figure you're kind of young to be a trained agent, so I'm guessing you have a power?"

A wicked smile lighting up her impish face, Elle raised her hand and arced a blue spark between her fingers. Gabriel moved closer, his gaze intense and his head tilted slightly to one side. Claire could practically see his ability kicking in, analyzing the power Sylar had later made his own, and it made her sick to her stomach. She wasn't sure she could stand Gabriel having one of Sylar's most ostentatious abilities.

"Gabriel!" she exclaimed.

Unfortunately, Claire's cry only served to distract him. He released Elle and she immediately zapped his raised hand viciously, a sadistic smirk on her little face. Gabriel threw his head back, crying out in pain as the electric shock burned his flesh. Claire ran over to him but before she could reach him, Gabriel had recovered enough to pin Elle higher on the display case, her feet off the ground and her hands immobilised.

Ignoring Claire standing at his side, Gabriel lowered his head, glaring at Elle from under his brows as he raised his scorched hand. Elle watched with amazement as the burns healed. Gabriel smiled wickedly.

"That's incredible," said Elle breathlessly, all but batting her eyes at him. "They said you only had telekinesis."

"They were wrong. I'm a man of many talents," said Gabriel sombrely. He glanced at Elle's hands hanging useless at her side. "Your ability is very impressive too."

"Thanks. I find it useful." Elle was stupid enough to look flattered, though she looked at Claire and narrowed her eyes. "And what about you, blondie? We're still figuring out where you fit in."

Gabriel followed her gaze, looking at Claire over his shoulder, and for one moment, seeing both of them so close together, Claire had a horrible flashback to Elle and Sylar threatening her family after the last eclipse. Her father had told her about slitting Sylar's throat with a box cutter that day, and also how Elle's burned corpse was found on a beach a couple of days later. Gabriel and Elle together were not good news.

"I'm his girlfriend," said Claire aggressively. She had hated Elle the first time around and she could tell that she was going to hate her just as much this time. "The rest is none of your business."

"Shame," said Elle, giving Gabriel a flirtatious smile. "About the girlfriend bit, that is. I'll let the Company worry about duplicate people running around."

Gabriel's face relaxed into a smug smile and Claire was seized with a rare desire to smack him. He released Elle, who dropped to her feet gracefully and walked towards him.

"Anyway. My assignment is you, Mr Gray," continued Elle. She looked Gabriel over appraisingly, biting her lip suggestively like a false ingénue. "The Company wants to offer you a job. An opportunity for you to put your... considerable talents to better use."

"I already have a job," said Gabriel, putting his arm around Claire. "I don't need a new one."

Elle looked at Claire, and then at the old-fashioned, dusty shop, visibly unimpressed. "Shame. I think you'd find working for the Company a lot more exciting." She raised her hand and sparked for added emphasis.

"I'm sure it's great," said Gabriel, his eyes on the blue sparks, "but my current job suits my aspirations perfectly. I get quite enough excitement as it is."

Elle gave Claire a disdainful look. "I find that very hard to believe… Your loyalty to your trade is touching, but being a watchmaker seems a waste of your talents_._" She gave Gabriel a flirtatious smile. "If you change your mind..."

She held up a business card between two fingers, obviously expecting Gabriel to take it. When he didn't move, Elle shrugged and slipped the card under one of the crystals on the counter beside her.

"I'll be back on Friday to get my father's watch, Mr Gray. See you!" she exclaimed as she sauntered out of the shop.

Gabriel willed the card into his hand. Claire half wished she had told him about Elle before; she didn't like the way Gabriel looked at Elle as she crossed the street and climbed into the Primatech van.

"I guess the Company has my number," said Gabriel. "I wonder if your dad is in that van."

"Probably." Claire turned towards him. "Gabriel, don't… Elle is trouble. She's totally insane and she'll… I don't know what she did to Sylar but he blamed her a lot for what happened to him."

Gabriel tore his eyes away from the Primatech van which was driving off. "She's another bad thing to avoid?"

Claire couldn't help but be annoyed at the disappointment in Gabriel's voice. "Let's face it, Gabriel; given how you turned out, most things related to powers need to be avoided. You have to stay away from people with abilities and you have to stay away from the Company."

"Right." He took a deep breath and smiled. "I know."

Gabriel put the card back on the counter and kissed her briefly, but Claire couldn't help feeling a pang of jealousy and resentment. She knew that the Company would be particularly keen to get their hands on Gabriel now that they knew he had multiple powers. She was going to have to keep an eye on him over the next few days. Claire opened the door to the shop.

"Where are you going?" asked Gabriel.

"Home. I'm going to get my gun," said Claire.


	7. Chapter 7

As soon as she stepped through the door to Gabriel's apartment, Claire knew that something was wrong. She wasn't usually the most observant person, but knowing that the Company was onto Gabriel honed her senses. The kitchen chairs had been moved and there was a faint scent in the air that felt simultaneously familiar and dangerous.

Claire ran into the bedroom, heading for the drawer where she had put her gun. But before she reached the foot of the bed, someone seized her arm and twisted it behind her back. In no time at all, her attacker had dropped her arm and grabbed Claire in a headlock, the cold point of a gun pressed to her temple. Immobilized against his tall body, Claire could feel the soft material of his dark suit pressing against her throat, and smell the once-familiar, almost forgotten, scent of his aftershave.

"Dad?"

"Who are you?" growled his familiar voice in her ear.

Claire felt tears rising to her eyes. She lifted her hands in submission.

"Dad, it's me, Claire!"

Noah Bennet released her, but kept his gun trained on her head as he allowed Claire to turn and face him.

"No, you're not. My daughter Claire is safe and sound in Texas. I talked to her not five minutes ago. So I ask again, who are you? Some kind of shapeshifter? An illusionist?"

Claire shook her head. It felt so good to see him again, with those dumb ugly glasses and his high, balding forehead, that she longed to throw herself in his arms, to feel safe again. But she knew he wouldn't welcome her and she couldn't blame him for being suspicious.

"I am Claire, but I've come back from the future." When Bennet narrowed his eyes, she continued, trying to think of something to convince him. "I don't know what would convince you that I'm me. I- um, you adopted me when I was 14 months old. My real parents are Nathan Petrelli and Meredith Gordon, but the Company gave me to you… I have a power: I can regenerate, but it didn't become apparent until I'd finished puberty, round about now, actually... I used to collect teddy bears, you used to bring me one every time you went away on a bag and tag mission… Um, you currently have a colleague called Lauren and you kind of like her… You wanted to be a teacher when you were young… Dad, I know you. I'm Claire. Just a grown up Claire who learned all your secrets."

Bennet seemed unmoved. "So you're a mind-reader, or you've done very good research. There's no evidence so far that Claire has a power."

"Except the fact that she's never been ill?" queried Claire, though it was odd to talk about her former self in the third person.

She saw a flicker of awareness in Bennet's eyes and knew she was getting somewhere, though he wasn't ready to let down his guard yet.

"You're going to have to do better than that," he said cautiously. "I've been in this business too long to let someone just walk up to me and say 'hi, I'm your daughter'."

"But I am. Dad, you have to trust me," she said desperately. She lowered her eyes, struggling to find a convincing argument, and happened to notice the gun she had brought with her tucked in his pocket.

"The gun!" she exclaimed, pointing at it. "Why would I have your gun? You're pointing it at me, but it's in your pocket too. It's _your_ gun, Dad. I took it when… when you died."

Bennet pulled out the gun from his pocket and compared it to the one he was holding. Claire could tell from the change in his expression that he recognized them as the same weapon, one just slightly older and more worn than the other, scorch marks crisscrossing the butt.

"You've come back from the future, you say," he said slowly, still uncertain but now willing to entertain the possibility. "Why?"

"It's kind of complicated to explain," said Claire. "You died. You all died." The memory she had tried to repress ever since she had returned came back and she struggled to continue without crying. "You, Mom, Lyle, even Mr Muggles. You were murdered… It wasn't a good death. I've come back to stop that."

She knew from the concern in Bennet's eyes that he believed her now. "You're changing the past because your family was murdered?"

"The man who did it didn't just murder you," said Claire, though she wanted to keep Gabriel out of it as much as possible. "He'd killed countless others before."

Claire couldn't help feeling a flicker of resentment when she thought about Gabriel's original destiny. She would never have been forced to watch Sylar burn her entire family to death, one by one, if the Company had either helped or destroyed Sylar when they had first captured him. Of course, it would have been even better if her father and Elle had left Gabriel alone in the first place; or if Chandra Suresh had never heard of his existence. She was fixing a past that should never have happened in the first place.

"You know who murdered us. Who was he?" asked Bennet.

"I- I can't tell you that," said Claire, hoping he wouldn't press her.

Bennet narrowed his eyes. "One too many butterflies to crush?"

"Something like that," agreed Claire. She wished they weren't talking to each other like a pair of strangers.

"Where does Mr Gray fit in?" asked Bennet suspiciously, his gun once more raised at her head. "Is he the man who killed us?"

"No."

Much as she loved him and expected him to trust her, Claire knew her father too well to let him know the truth about Gabriel's original destiny. She knew the Company would be all over him if they knew how dangerous he was.

"He's my boyfriend," she said, though it sounded lame and she couldn't think of a plausible reason why she would have sought out Gabriel first rather than her murdered family. Or the man who had killed them, of course.

"Did he die too?" asked Bennet, one eyebrow raised behind the horn-rimmed glasses.

"Yes." That was close enough to the truth. "Yes, I figured I would save him too."

"I can't say I'm not a little disappointed," said her father, pocketing her gun again and reattaching his copy to its holster. "I know no doting father will ever really approve of the man his daughter chooses, but you have very poor taste in men, Claire, especially if you're going to go to the trouble of time-travelling to save him. Gray called Elle almost as soon as you were out of the shop. I'm guessing it wasn't about that watch she gave him."

* * * * *

The taxi ride back to the store seemed to last an eternity. Bennet was mostly silent, though he asked a couple of leading questions about the murderer she had mentioned and how she planned to change history. Claire resisted the urge to tell him anything important about the future beyond the fact that Arthur Petrelli was alive. Given the context of their conversation, she let her father conclude that Arthur Petrelli was responsible for his family's death in her timeline; it seemed an innocuous way to deflect attention from Gabriel.

"Please don't come in with me," she begged when they arrived at Gabriel's store.

Bennet looked up at the Gray and Sons sign on the shop for a moment, before nodding. "Elle has her orders, though, so be careful…"

"I've faced Elle before," said Claire, giving him a reassuring smile. "I regenerate. I'll be fine."

The door to the shop was locked; the "Closed" sign hung in the window. Claire used the key Gabriel had given her, but Bennet stopped her just before she entered.

"I know you told me you can heal," he said, handing her the gun she had brought from the future. "But some things cut deeper than flesh wounds, Claire."

Claire swallowed hard. She knew what he expected her to see, and suddenly understood exactly what Elle's mission was. God, no wonder Sylar had been so mad at Elle and Bennet if this was how they had handled him the first time around.

As she approached the back of the office behind the store, Claire looked up at the broken window she had shot the previous week and saw blue sparks. Elle was giving a demonstration of her power. The sight of the blue light brought a lump to Claire's throat, but at least it reassured her that she wasn't going to find Gabriel and Elle locked in a passionate embrace.

In a way, what she saw when she opened the back door was worse.

Elle was firing lightening bolts at a trashcan, casting occasional flirtatious glances at Gabriel. He was standing behind her, in shirt sleeves and no longer wearing his glasses, his head low as he watched her demonstration from under his heavy brows. His entire attention was focussed on the bolts of lightening.

He gave Elle a sinister smile, curled up his left hand in a gesture that Claire recognised all too well, and unfurled it suddenly, shooting a steady stream of electricity onto the metal trashcan. The metal buckled and started to melt. Visibly excited, Elle added her own power to the attack, leaning back against Gabriel for a moment as they combined their powers for destruction.

Overcome with disgust, Claire walked straight into the blast, hardly caring that it burned a hole in the shirt she was wearing or seared her insensitive skin. Elle laughed with delight and continued to direct her energy at Claire. Gabriel stopped his immediately, his eyes wide with horror. When Elle continued, he waved her hard into the wall, stopping her attack.

"What are you doing, Claire?" asked Gabriel in alarm.

"I might ask you the same thing!" exclaimed Claire, her hands on her hips. "What do you think you're doing here, with her?"

Gabriel glanced at Elle and blushed in shame. "It- I thought I'd-"

"You thought you'd just get another power behind my back, after I told you not to," snapped Claire. "I can't trust you, can I? I can't leave you for one moment without you messing up, Gabriel! I told you to stay away from the Company and from people with abilities and the first thing you do when my back is turned is call Elle!"

"It's my destiny, Claire," he said sombrely. "We can't pretend that this isn't important, that I can go through life avoiding specials and be content with the powers I have!"

"Then what's the point?" exclaimed Claire. "Why do I even bother? You know what will happen. No man can become that powerful without going insane and I told you what happened! Why can't you listen to me?"

"I _have_ been listening to you!" he exclaimed. "I've done everything you told me to. But I know what I'm doing. This is a useful power, Claire." He let a blue glow envelop his hand. "I can show this to Dr Suresh. He'll have proof! I can be his Patient Zero."

Claire wished she had the power of electrocution herself so she could zap him. Still standing by the wall, Elle was watching the scene with amusement, and Claire saw Bennet observing them from the back door of the shop. He gave Gabriel a sinister smile, no doubt already planning his trip to Level 5 for some serious experimentation.

Whatever her father's plans, Claire knew that Gabriel would be able to defend himself; as she knew from experience, her power combined with those of Brian Davis and Elle meant that Gabriel was already unbeatable. It was ironic that one week with Claire had resulted in him acquiring Sylar's most significant powers. She felt tired and beaten, overwhelmed by the responsibility she had given herself and discouraged by her apparent lack of success.

"I'm done with this," declared Claire, pushing past Bennet into the shop.

She heard Gabriel shouting after her. "Claire! Wait!"

All of a sudden, Claire stopped, her entire body held in an invisible grip that propelled her against the partition wall between the office and the shop. She flipped around without warning, her back to the wall. Claire struggled uselessly, glaring at the handsome narrow face of the man approaching her, disgusted by the anger in his dark eyes and the blue sparks escaping from his open palms. It was all horribly familiar except that she wasn't crying or begging for mercy.

"Let me go, Sylar!" she gritted.

Gabriel's eyes widened and Claire dropped to the ground unharmed. He looked at his hands, then at Elle and Bennet standing at the back of the office. Gabriel sat heavily on the chair by his workbench, his anger deflated as he looked up at Claire.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean-" he said.

Claire stood where he had dropped her and it took her a moment to answer. "I know."

Gabriel gave her such a pleading look, his heavy eyebrows raised and his dark eyes wide with remorse, that Claire felt her anger evaporate. She didn't know quite how it had happened, but she realised at that moment that she was in love with Gabriel Gray and she wasn't ready to give up on him yet.

No longer caring that Elle and her father were watching, Claire stepped forward and embraced Gabriel, letting him rest his head on her chest. She stroked his hair and gave Bennet a fierce look, daring him to interfere. He observed her thoughtfully for a moment, then nodded and uncovered his even teeth in a sinister smile.

"I think we should leave," he said to Elle.

"What?" exclaimed Elle. "What about the mission? Dad said--"

"I'll deal with your father, Elle," said Bennet coldly. "Claire, I'll give your boyfriend a free pass just this once. If he gets back on the radar, he's going straight to Level 5. It goes without saying that the power to transfer powers from others without harming them, as he has done with Elle, is something my colleagues would be very interested to study. It's unique."

It occurred to Claire that it wasn't that unique; the Company would eventually learn that Peter had virtually the same power. She just acknowledged the warning with a nod, grateful that her father had decided to trust her judgement despite what he had just seen Gabriel do. Bennet approached and placed his hand on Claire's shoulder, giving it a quick squeeze.

"I hope your knowledge of the future will help you, Claire, because I can't see the Company dropping this one so easily when they find out what he can do."

Elle looked puzzled. "Wait, so she actually _is_ your daughter? So your daughter has a power. Have you known that all along or--"

Not bothering to let her finish, Bennet grabbed Elle by the arm and pulled her out of the store. Claire watched them go, nervously fingering the gun in her jacket pocket, and knowing that it wouldn't be the last they saw of the Company.

"I'm sorry," repeated Gabriel once they had gone, though she could tell from his tone that he was apologising for something he didn't plan to change. He put his glasses back on. "I love you, Claire, and more than anything, I want to do what's right for you. But I can't fight this. It's my nature. My destiny. I can feel it every time I get a new power. It feels right."

Claire stepped back and crossed her arms. "Yeah. It feels good. I get it."

Gabriel opened his hand and let sparks fly between his fingers. He smiled, delighted with his shiny new toy. The blue glow was reflected off his glasses, momentarily obscuring his eyes and making him appear suddenly less human.

"This is a wonderful ability, Claire. It's completely different from all the others. I can feel the power charge up inside me when I will it into existence." The light in his palm intensified, creating a sparkling ball of energy. "And then it pushes through my skin and escapes, still under my control…" The ball changed shape, spikes appearing. "I could do so much with this."

"Like kill my entire family?" snapped Claire.

The sparks vanished; Gabriel looked up at her with alarm. Her eyes still filled with the afterglow of Elle's powers, Claire felt a sob developing in her throat. Seeing her father again, and almost immediately seeing Gabriel exactly as he had been that fateful evening, hands radiating energy, had reawakened the memory she had tried so hard to repress.

Unable to contain the floodgates anymore, Claire burst into tears. She wanted to suppress the memory again, to stop it from ruining the relationship she was building with Gabriel, but it all came back.

Sylar had started with Mr Muggles, just for the pleasure of watching the Bennets squirm. Then Lyle, then Mom… relatively quick deaths but they had already started screaming anyway, their helpless cries tearing at Claire's ears. He'd given Noah the worst treatment, forcing Claire to watch from her position pinned halfway up the opposing wall. Just for fun, he'd used René's power to disable Claire's ability and kill her the same way. Of course, she just came back to life. As usual.

Gabriel stood up and held her close as she wept. Claire embraced him gratefully, sobbing into his shirt as all the tension of the past few months overwhelmed her. Gabriel stroked her hair and rocked her lightly like a baby.

"I didn't realise," said Gabriel when her tears finally subsided. "God, Claire, if I had known… Why didn't you just tell me?"

Claire sniffed, her face still buried in his shirt. "I- I don't know. I guess I didn't want to think about it. Oh God, Gabriel, he- you asked me to help you. It was before you killed my family, but after you'd already killed so many people, done so many horrible things... I said no."

"It wasn't your fault, Claire," said Gabriel, his strong arms around her in a protective embrace. "I guess I had chosen my path, just as I've chosen a different one this time around."

Claire wiped her eyes with her fingers, wishing her so-called waterproof mascara didn't run. She sniffed again but didn't feel like crying anymore. Gabriel was right; Sylar had chosen his path and it had nothing to do with her, but it didn't erase the tiny flicker of remorse she had felt ever since telling Sylar she couldn't help him. Perhaps if she had tried, he wouldn't have killed her family…

"I know. I guess I'll always wonder what would have happened."

"Why?" asked Gabriel, sounding genuinely puzzled. "You've helped me now. That won't happen again; your family is saved."

Claire looked up at him and smiled feebly. She nodded, accepting his explanation, though in her heart she knew it wasn't quite that simple. Seeing her father as he had been in 2006 -- efficient, ruthless, sure of his mission -- Claire had realised that although changing the past had saved their lives, but she would never get her family back. The Bennets would live on with their own Claire in their midst, growing into slightly different people based on their changed experiences in the new timeline. But the family that had lived through the past four years with Claire was gone forever. Still, there was nothing she could do about that.

"I should have known you'd call Elle, though," said Claire reproachfully, wanting to change the subject.

"Yeah." Gabriel laughed dryly. "I fixed the watch immediately and figured it would be easier if I told her to come back straight away. I-I admit I was intrigued by her power. I guess I wanted to see it again."

"Just her power?" asked Claire, unable to control the jealousy she felt.

Gabriel pulled back a little to look down at her face. "Of course. You don't think I'd go seeing strange women behind your back? I mean, not for that reason."

"Elle… Elle was your girlfriend." Claire sighed. "I'm sorry, I should have told you, only I thought… I thought you might think it was destiny or something. That you were meant to be together."

Gabriel laughed. "A week ago, yes, I would have been more than happy to meet Elle. But now… I don't know if this - us - is going somewhere, Claire, but it's um… I hope it's going somewhere. And I don't mean --" He blushed a little. "I mean emotionally, not um…"

"Physically. Yeah, I get it," said Claire with a laugh. "I love you too."

Gabriel looked startled for a moment, but a wide smile soon broke out on his lips. "That's, um, wow, I'm a lucky man," he said. "God, I love you, Claire."

Claire looked up at him, returning his smile, but she let her features grow serious as he leaned in to kiss her. His kiss was more passionate than usual, his tongue more insistent in her mouth, and though Claire was surprised, she wasn't displeased. She ran her hands through his short hair, pulling him closer. Tired of craning her neck, Claire wrapped her arms around Gabriel and tried to pull herself up or pull him down, anything to bring their faces level to facilitate the kiss.

Displaying an uncharacteristic confidence, Gabriel spun her around so that her back was to his workbench and he could place her on it. Then he hesitated, the excitement of his recent power acquisition still plain on his face, but his underlying timid nature coming back to the surface.

Claire pulled him closer and kissed him; she kissed his pink mouth and narrow chin, brushed her lips against the faint stubble already forming on his cheek. Gabriel was breathing heavily now and he mimicked her touch, kissing what he could reach of the exposed skin on her face and neck. Claire hummed her approval, stroking the back of his head as he nuzzled the collar of her shirt. He didn't seem to know what to do with his hands; one was on the desk, steadying him as he leaned down to kiss her, but the other was at her waist, stroking her shirt hesitantly, its goal clear though he was unwilling to move it higher.

Not caring that this was the worst possible place for any kind of sexual encounter, let alone their first, Claire took his large hand and moved it upwards. Gabriel's sharp intake of breath made it clear that he understood what she wanted. His hand stilled a moment before cupping her breast. He wasn't kissing her anymore, he was looking at her seriously, a little startled, as if he had never expected anyone to allow him to do this.

"Claire…" he murmured, leaning in for another kiss.

"Yes, Gabriel?" she responded, her lips pressed to his.

"Can we go home?"

* * * * *

Not for the first time, Claire wished that Gabriel lived closer to his shop. They ate their sandwiches on the bus, while it crawled through the early afternoon traffic. She wondered why Grandad Gray had bought an apartment in Queens when his shop was in Brooklyn.

Gabriel kissed her again almost as soon as she'd finished eating and she was surprised to find that the taste of bread and ham on his lips didn't turn her off as much as she had expected. He looked out of the window to check where the bus had got up to, but Claire pulled him to her to continue the kiss. They almost missed their stop, and had to run off the bus laughing like a pair of school kids.

They both became more sober when Gabriel opened the door to his apartment and they were suddenly standing in the kitchen, alone and close to the box in the drawer.

"I, um, I guess I'll go put the gun back," said Claire, though she actually intended to leave it in her bag until she was satisfied the Company wasn't after them.

"Sure."

Claire left Gabriel standing in the kitchen, looking a little unsure as to what to do next. She assumed that if he intended to sleep with her, he would get the condoms and come and find her in the bedroom. On the other hand, it all felt a bit awkward now they were actually in his apartment. Maybe they could wait until the evening.

Claire sat on the bed and wondered if she should undress. Films always showed couples kissing and stripping their clothes off, and then they would suddenly cut to them in bed together, post coitum with L-shaped covers that bared the man's chest but kept the woman modest. Claire could guess that wasn't how real life went. For a start, they were probably going to do it on Gabriel's twin bed, and there wouldn't be much room for post coital cuddles.

Despite the awkwardness, the thought of lying naked with Gabriel on his narrow bed made Claire's insides flutter pleasantly. With no sign of him coming to join her, Claire decided that there must have been a misunderstanding. She headed towards the living room and practically bumped into Gabriel who was standing just outside the doorway.

Claire wondered how long he'd been standing there. She stood a couple of feet away from him, looking up at his dark features and wishing she didn't remember the last time she'd walked out of a room and found him leaning on the doorframe just outside. Sylar had pursued her through the house and taken her ability. But Gabriel was looking at her sheepishly this time, embarrassed by the item he held in his hand. Claire smiled and also remembered that everything was going to be different this time around.


	8. Chapter 8

Claire sat down on the bed and smiled encouragingly. Gabriel put the condom in his trouser pocket and came to join her, visibly nervous and a little embarrassed. They started with a kiss, Gabriel holding Claire against him while they explored each other's mouths. It was a safe activity they had already mastered; after a moment, Gabriel relaxed enough to touch her chest again, fondling her breast through her shirt and underwear. Claire ran her hand up and down his back, uncertain which parts to touch on a man's body, aside from the obvious.

"Do you think I should undress?" she murmured against his mouth. "I mean do you want me--"

She stopped; it seemed dumb to ask him if he wanted her to undress. That was the whole point, after all. Claire unbuttoned her shirt. Gabriel said nothing, apparently paralysed by desire, his head still bowed against her face, his glasses pressing lightly on her temple. His breathing was irregular as he watched her remove her shirt and bra.

"Oh, Claire," he whispered.

Claire was glad they were so close and she didn't have to look at him looking at her. It wasn't that she didn't want Gabriel to see her, but it would have felt odd to be putting on a show. His proximity made her nakedness feel more intimate. Claire unbuttoned her jeans and pushed them down awkwardly, unwilling to break the spell by getting up. She hesitated when she reached her panties.

Claire had grown up in a hot climate, and most of her body had been bare on one occasion or another. This wasn't even the first time someone had seen her breasts. But even girlie sleepovers drew the line at revealing anything below the waistline. On the other hand, this was sex; she wanted to have sex with Gabriel and her panties were obviously in the way. She pulled her underwear down, scissoring her legs slightly to kick it off.

"God, you're beautiful," breathed Gabriel as she self-consciously bent over to peel off her socks.

"Thanks," she said, unsure exactly what people were supposed to say in this situation. "Um, do you want to touch me?"

Gabriel smiled at her, not shyly this time, but with amusement. "Yes. Yes, I think I probably do."

It wasn't exactly a great joke, but Claire laughed, the tension momentarily relieved. Gabriel took his glasses off, levitating them onto the bedside table. He kissed her again, harder than before, communicating more of the intensity of his desire for her. Claire moaned when he kissed her neck. Gabriel cupped her naked breast, squeezing it gently, and Claire lay down on her back, her head on the pillow.

Gabriel took a moment to look at her naked body before lying beside her, his upper body half on top of hers so they could kiss again. He stroked her hesitantly, his fingers mostly gentle, but sometimes unexpectedly rough when he didn't know how hard to touch.

It was exciting but just a little scary. Claire was acutely aware of the strength of his body compared to her, and conscious that some of Sylar's most formidable powers lay at his disposal. She trusted him completely, but she still remembered what he was capable of.

"We don't have to--" started Gabriel, no doubt sensing her sudden tension as he touched her too hard.

Claire smiled and took his hand, moving it more gently. Gabriel blushed, embarrassed by his lack of experience; Claire kissed him, her hand holding his, encouraging him to learn what she needed him to know, until she gripped his shirt and arched her back. Gabriel kissed her face gently, visibly affected by her reaction.

"Gosh," he murmured. "Claire, you're beautiful."

He pulled her closer against him, her hips against his belly, and kissed everything he could reach; her hair, her eyes, her face and neck. Still out of breath, Claire laughed, a bit embarrassed by the intimacy and unsure how to act. She kissed him back, her lips brushing against the wiry bush of his eyebrows. They shared a deep kiss that seemed to calm him down. Claire moaned slightly when he pulled away.

"Do you-- Should I undress too?" he asked.

"Yeah!" said Claire enthusiastically, though she didn't know how she would react to having a naked man so close to her. She'd seen enough men close to naked on the beach; she doubted that Gabriel's general anatomy would be anything surprising. But obviously, there were limits to her knowledge.

Gabriel stood on the floor to undress, coyly turning his back to her. He kept his navy blue underwear on until the last minute, sitting on the edge of the narrow bed and hunching over to inspect the condom packet out of Claire's sight.

"You say my power is understanding how things work, right?" he said with amusement, glancing over his shoulder.

"Yes. That should be a piece of cake."

Leaning up on one arm, Claire watched the lean muscles in his narrow pale back as he ripped the wrapping open.

"I think I'll read the instructions anyway," he murmured.

When he turned towards her, Claire didn't look down, instead locking her gaze on his. It seemed stupid for a nineteen-year-old who couldn't feel pain, but she was just a little scared. This was something new, that she had been raised to see as a special moment in her life. As if he too saw this occasion as something important, Gabriel kissed her with more hesitation now, touching her again but even less sure of himself.

"I-If you…" he started. "I don't want to, um--"

Claire firmly dismissed her own misgivings about the situation. "Gabriel, I love you. I want this." It occurred to her belatedly that he might also be scared; he'd been waiting even longer for this moment, after all. "But I mean we don't have to right now if you don't want to."

He grinned sheepishly. "I think we can safely say that I want to."

Claire giggled and Gabriel laughed too, pressing his forehead to hers. Claire twined her fingers into his short hair as they kissed again. It was awkward and funny and just perfect; as ordinary as could be, but the most extraordinary thing she had ever done.

Later, when Claire was leaning against his naked chest and Gabriel was playing with her hair, she reflected on the last four years of her life, trying to work out what would be different without Sylar. It was impossible to guess; her personal future was as unwritten as ever.

"Do you think the Company will ever leave us alone?" asked Gabriel. He had evidently been doing some thinking of his own.

Claire sighed. "I don't know. I guess if we keep a low profile, they'll leave us. Some people evaded them for years, like your father, I guess."

"I don't think I can keep a low profile," said Gabriel, his voice rumbling up through the hairy skin under her cheek. "I still want to help Chandra Suresh with his research and I guess I'd like to do something useful with all this power. You know, so I don't start using them just because I can."

He raised his hand, palm open, and Claire braced herself, expecting him to play with Elle's power. But he apparently remembered why she didn't like it and turned his hand over, making a couple of books float off the bookshelf and back again.

"We'll never have a normal life pretending to be something we're not," he said. "We have to get people to accept us as we are. Maybe we should cut out the chase and go straight to see the Company. Perhaps we can make a deal; they can study how I acquire abilities and in exchange, they help Dr Suresh and let us live in peace."

Claire raised her head and stared at him. "I don't think you'd like the Company's idea of studying you. But I guess there isn't anyone else we can trust."

"So the Company is our only choice," said Gabriel. "Since we don't trust them anyway, we might be able use them to buy ourselves some peace. Perhaps we can even get it to mend its evil ways." He narrowed his eyes thoughtfully, then kissed Claire on the forehead. "Don't worry, Claire. You know what the future might hold, and I understand how things work. We'll be fine."

* * * * *

FOUR YEARS LATER

"Claire, seriously, do you think you could possibly tell your boyfriend not to be such a drama queen?" whined Elle, kicking her shoes off in Claire's office as if she owned the place.

"He's my fiancé," corrected Claire, keeping her eyes on the screen.

"Yes, your fiancé," said Elle in a tone that meant _'whatever'_. "I was totally in control, and bam, in comes Superman, the whole place shakes, the mark is spooked and surrenders, and I'm left looking like a pathetic sparkler. Anyway, what am I wearing on your big day?"

Claire frowned at her. "Anything you like. I told you, you're not a bridesmaid."

"So you're just having Daphne and that Laura girl from college and that's it?" said Elle, as if she really didn't believe it. "You've got to have at least three bridesmaids for a wedding."

"It isn't a big wedding." When Elle pouted, Claire added, "You can blow up stuff at the reception, though. We're having fireworks and someone has to set them off."

"But I'd look really good in a bridesmaid's dress, and if I catch the bouquet, you never know… Someone might catch a clue and I could become your auntie Elle!"

Claire rolled her eyes and decided not to voice her opinion that "someone" would have better sense than to marry Elle. In any case, they were interrupted when Gabriel burst into the room as if a major incident had occurred.

"Claire, I've found the ideal car!" He waved a photo at her. "There's a place upstate that has a 1922 cream-coloured Model T. It's perfect! The engine is in amazing condition."

Elle slipped her shoes back on and grinned at Claire. "Drama queen," she muttered as she left.

"It's lovely," Claire assured Gabriel.

Calmer now that he had her approval, Gabriel sat on her desk. Claire looked up at him and not for the first time, thought how good he looked in a suit. She hadn't appreciated it when Sylar was paired with Noah Bennet after he took her power. She wondered if things would have turned out differently if she had, though the Petrellis would still have been playing Sylar for a fool and the truth coming out would have had similar consequences. Thinking about Elle who had just left, she was once again pleased that that particular timeline was gone.

Gabriel cupped Claire's chin and leaned down to kiss her.

"What's wrong, Claire?" he asked. "You've been a bit strange today."

Claire half-shrugged; now that the latest crisis was over, there was no point denying it. "I'm fine. It's just that today is the day I went back in time."

"So from now on, it's the undiscovered country?" said Gabriel, with his usual knack of honing in on the essential detail of her statements.

"Yeah, there goes my job as a soothsayer," said Claire with a little sigh. "Not that everything I lived through the first time came true anyway."

Despite her foreknowledge of things like Arthur Petrelli's faked death or the plot to blow up New York, many things had turned out differently and not always for the best. The arrival in the United States of a naïve girl from the Dominican Republic who wiped out dozens of people, including several agents, before Gabriel and Claire were able to calm her down was an unpleasant surprise. The unexpected crises were contained, but Claire still felt guilty, aware that some were storms her crushed butterfly had created.

At least she and Gabriel were making a difference at the Company. Claire knew that Bob Bishop and Eric Thompson were afraid of Gabriel; they had both been on the receiving end of Sylar-like wrath in the beginning, and didn't dare cross him when it came to what Claire thought was right. With the revelation that she was Nathan Petrelli's daughter, Claire was practically the heir apparent; not everyone approved of or liked the situation, but they got on well with most of the agents, and Claire and Gabriel were able to steer the Company away from its worst excesses.

"It feels good, actually, to know I've completed the loop now," said Claire, standing up to wrap her arms around Gabriel. "I like not having the faintest idea what's going to happen or who our next enemy is likely to be. All I have to think about is our wedding."

"That's plenty to think about," said Gabriel with a chuckle. "I would never have proposed if I'd known how much work it would be. I don't think I can stand another man dropping hints that he wants to be my best man."

Claire laughed. "Elle wants to be a bridesmaid, but I really only want two and I get on better with Daphne. Haven't you chosen your best man yet?"

"It'll be Peter, I told you," said Gabriel, though he most certainly had not. Perhaps noticing the annoyed look on his fiancée's face, he add, "I suppose I should ask him first, though. Hey, maybe Cheerleader Claire would like to be a bridesmaid. That would be weird."

"Yes, it would."

'Cheerleader Claire', Claire's past self, was paradoxically not someone she got on with particularly well. With no Sylar to pursue her, and her father made aware of the dangers of concealing her ability and identity, Claire Bennet had grown into a young woman unburdened by the traumas that had shaped Claire's present personality. A quiet word with Bennet had even ensured that she didn't get assaulted by her classmate Brody. The Haitian stopped brainwiping her mother with none of the upset of the last timeline, and of course, her family was never murdered; Claire the cheerleader was able to complete high school and live a relatively normal life.

The resulting Claire Bennet was a shallow co-ed who lived a quiet romance with a Texan boy called Andy – someone Claire had never met in her timeline, but who had entered the cheerleader's life when the family stayed in Odessa for Claire's final year in high school. So no West, no Alex, no Gretchen; with no need to test her ability in secret, she never became friends with Zach. Instead, Cheerleader Claire formed a completely different set of relationships, enjoying the friendship of her best friend Jackie and living the life Claire had once wanted for herself.

Perhaps sensing that the mention of her alter ego had dampened her mood, Gabriel carefully brushed a strand of medium blonde hair behind her ear.

"Claire, do you ever regret going back in time?" he asked softly.

Looking up into his dark brown eyes, Claire licked her thumb and smoothed one of Gabriel's bushy eyebrows back into place.

"Never."


End file.
